According to CryptoPotato, a father and son in Maryland, USA, were sentenced for participating in a dark web drug trade and Bitcoin money laundering scheme. Joseph Farace, 72, was sentenced to 19 months in federal prison on January 8 for assisting his 38-year-old son Ryan Farace in money laundering. Previously, Ryan Farace was convicted in a November 2018 case of manufacturing and distributing alprazolam (commonly known as "Xanax") tablets, and he exchanged Bitcoin for these drugs on the dark web market. On January 5, Judge Grigsby of the Federal District Court for the District of Maryland sentenced Ryan Farace to 54 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. The case was investigated by multiple law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, and local police departments. Court documents show that Ryan Farace obtained more than 9,138 bitcoins from the dark web market in the 2018 case. Although Ryan Farace claimed that he had no access to any undisclosed Bitcoin related to his 2018 conviction, he conspired with his father, Joseph Farace, and others to launder money through various financial transactions while in prison from October 2019 to April 2021. These transactions included the transfer of Bitcoin to online exchanges and retailers to benefit Joseph Farace. In August 2020, Ryan Farace directed Joseph Farace to transfer more than 2,874 Bitcoins to third parties for use in international banking transactions. In September 2020, Joseph Farace transferred the designated Bitcoins to third parties, which were all proceeds from Ryan Farace's 2018 drug crimes. On February 10, 2021, federal agents seized the Bitcoins, which had a market value of between $65 million and $150 million at the time. On May 11, 2021, an additional 58.7 Bitcoins were seized in connection with Ryan Farace's drug trafficking. All Bitcoin seized during the investigation will be forfeited by Ryan and Joseph Farace.