Federal prosecutors have secured a guilty plea from a Washington resident accused of running a years-long romance scam that drained over $333,000 from a Portland victim.

Rithy Ham, 45, of Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, says the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon.

The scheme ran from September 2020 through May 2024 and relied on invented identities of two women who supposedly needed cash for daily bills, nursing school costs and escape from sex trafficking.

“Believing the women were real and in danger, the victim sent money on multiple occasions.”

The victim sent repeated payments after receiving messages from both Ham and the fabricated profiles.

One transfer of $36,872.35 occurred in November 2022, and another $20,922 came from a retirement account in March 2023.

Ham and his wife controlled the accounts that received the funds, and part of the proceeds paid for an $18,500 check to his wife.

“In total, Ham stole $333,249.52 from the victim, much of it from the victim’s retirement savings.”

Under the plea deal, Ham must repay the full amount and faces up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud charge and up to 10 years on the money laundering count.

The FBI conducted the investigation.

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The post Washington Resident Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud in $333,249 Romance Scam appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

The company behind Cash App is set to pay $764 million to end a federal investigation into its anti-money laundering program.

Jack Dorsey’s Block disclosed the deal in its latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Block says it reached an agreement in principle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) in October to settle the matter through a deferred prosecution agreement.

Under the deal, the DOJ will put off for three years a charge that Block failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.

If Block meets the terms during that time, the DOJ will move to dismiss the charge.

The agreement is expected to carry a gross penalty of about $964 million, which drops to about $764 million after credit for earlier regulatory settlements.

The deal still needs a final agreement and court approval. Block had already set aside the full $764 million as of September 30th.

The payment is larger than the $565 million in net income Block reported for the third quarter.

The DOJ and SEC began looking into Block shortly after short seller Hindenburg Research published a report in March of 2023.

Hindenburg alleged that Cash App inflated its user numbers by counting duplicate and fake accounts and that weak identity checks let criminals use the app, reports Yahoo Finance. Block disputed the findings.

The SEC closed its own investigation in March of this year without recommending enforcement action.

Block posted $3.2 billion in gross profit for the quarter. Cash App gross profit rose 27% to $2.07 billion, while Square gross profit rose 14% to $1.16 billion.

Gross profit from Block’s Bitcoin business fell 50% to $52 million after the company cut fees on some Bitcoin transactions on Cash App, Yahoo Finance reports.

Block paid $40 million to New York’s financial regulator in April of 2025 over alleged anti-money laundering lapses at Cash App.

Block runs the Cash App payment app and the Square platform for merchants.

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The post Jack Dorsey’s Block To Pay $764,000,000 To Resolve DOJ Anti-Money Laundering Probe appeared first on The Daily Hodl.