21-year-old man sentenced to 18 months in prison for bitcoin fraud in Morocco
A 21-year-old Frenchman, Thomas Clausi, was convicted in Morocco on Thursday of “fraud” and illegal use of cryptocurrency and sentenced to 18 months in prison.
He was also fined around 3.4 million euros.
In prison since December 23, 2021, Clausi, who presented himself as a contractor to the judge, appeared before the criminal chamber of the Court of Casablanca, competent for criminal cases.
He was accused of “fraud” and “payment with foreign currency on Moroccan territory”, in particular for using bitcoins to buy a luxury car.
Moroccan customs consider the use of cryptocurrency an illegal transfer of funds.
His lawyer, Mohamed Aghnage, told AFP he intends to appeal. The trial was postponed several times.
During the hearing, Clausi, assisted by a translator, pleaded not guilty.
“I did not know that the use of cryptocurrency was prohibited in Morocco. And I particularly insist on the fact that all these transactions were made in France,” he said.
He was prosecuted following a “fraud” complaint filed by a French woman living in Casablanca who had sold him a Ferrari for a payment in bitcoin worth 400,000 euros.
“The transaction took place, there is no fraud. Thomas (Clausi) undertook to return the car after his arrest, which proves his good faith,” Aghnage said.
This amicable agreement “does not cancel the damage my client has suffered”, replied the lawyer for the civil party, Mohamed Belkedioui.
The latter also represented another claimant, a Moroccan, who accused Clausi of defrauding him by giving him a bad check in the name of a third person – obtained by the young Frenchman in exchange for bitcoins – to buy three luxury watches.
The defendant told the court that he “did not know that the check was bad, that he had returned two of the watches and that he was ready to return the third”.
The court ordered him to compensate the owner of the watches with 40,000 dirhams (almost 3,900 euros), in addition to the fine of 3.4 million euros in favor of the customs authorities.
According to Thomas Clausi’s father, the young man, originally from the Moselle (eastern France), had moved to Morocco with the intention of setting up a new bank in Africa.
Another Frenchman, 21-year-old student Sébastien Raoult, has been detained since May 31 in Morocco at the request of the United States, which accuses him of cybercrime.
