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After selling Bitcoin to dozens of elderly victims of online romance scams, Free Keene’s Ian Freeman agreed to a restitution deal with federal prosecutors.

A hearing set for Monday in the U.S. District Court in Concord was canceled at the last minute as Freeman’s legal team and federal prosecutors came to terms. Mark Sisti, Freeman’s lawyer, declined to comment on the deal.

“Cannot discuss at this time,” Sisti said.

Judge Joseph LaPlante was considering an order that Freeman pay back millions to the scam victims who bought Bitcoin from Freeman and his cryptocurrency exchanges as part of the romance scams. Evidence about Freeman’s role in the scams was expected to be part of Monday’s hearing. 

Freeman is already serving a nine-year prison sentence on convictions for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and income tax evasion. He moved more than $10 million through his exchanges, according to prosecutors.

Rebecca Viar and other victims told LaPlante last year that Freeman’s exchanges were central to the scams that robbed them of their savings, trust, and dignity.

“Ian Freeman was the planner and instigator of this entire scheme,” Viar told LaPlante in September.

Viar, an elderly widow, was ripped off by an online romance scammer known as Michael Glenn Wilson. The crook, who has so far never been charged, used Freeman’s Bitcoin exchanges to facilitate the crimes, according to prosecutors.

In Viar’s case, she emptied her savings account, cashed out her insurance policy, took out loans, and even sold her dead husband’s truck. She sent all that money right to Freeman, she told LaPlante. Again and again, Wilson didn’t have her send the money to him but instead instructed her to go to Freeman. Through one of Freeman’s many exchanges, Viar bought Bitcoin that was then deposited into a digital wallet Wilson could access.

Prosecutors have argued Freeman either knew or, at best, actively worked to not know that he was facilitating crimes with his cryptocurrency transactions. Freeman was known throughout the Bitcoin community for charging higher fees than other market operators and for asking fewer questions, prosecutors have said.

When he was sentenced in October, Freeman claimed he was tricked by the scammers just like women like Viar.

“I was also a victim of the scammers,” Freeman told LaPlante.

According to Freeman’s telling, he was simply operating the Shire Free Church dedicated to spreading the Good News about Bitcoin when the victims of romance scams and other confidence tricks started buying Bitcoin from his exchange. Those victims were trained by their scammers to lie to Freeman to get around his security system, making him an unwitting accomplice to the scams, he claimed.

“I’m sorry those people were taken advantage of, and I couldn’t stop them all,” Freeman said. 

Assistant United States Attorney Georgiana MacDonald told LaPlante that Freeman was a manipulative liar who knew exactly what he was doing when he set up his Bitcoin exchange. 

“He is an expert conman who has a spin for everything and who executed a very clever scheme,” MacDonald said.

It’s not all bad news for Freeman. His request to serve his federal sentence in a prison close to Keene was granted last week. Freeman’s wife and friends are still in the Keene area.

Freeman, whose original name is Ian Bernard, was one of the early evangelists for the libertarian movement known as the Free State Project, though he’s no longer part of it. The Free State Project distanced itself from Freeman in 2014 after his repeated public statements in favor of lowering the age of consent for legal sexual activity.

After getting booted from the Free State, Freeman founded the Free Keene community that’s home to former gubernatorial candidate Nobody (born “Rich Paul”); Aria DiMezzo, the self-identified “Trans, Satanic, Anarchist” who ran for Cheshire County sheriff as a Republican; and Chris Cantwell, the alt-right podcaster known as the Crying Nazi.

Both Nobody and DiMezzo ended up pleading guilty for their roles in Freeman’s Bitcoin operation. Cantwell was recently released from federal prison after he was found guilty of threatening another online white supremacist. Freeman distanced himself from Cantwell when Cantwell began espousing violent, alt-right rhetoric. Cantwell is currently out of prison, back in New Hampshire, and trying to revive his online media career. 

Ian Freeman walked into the courtroom Monday to a standing ovation from his libertarian supporters and walked out in handcuffs, facing eight years in federal prison.

What led the former Free State Project leader and self-described peace activist to a prison sentence for the better part of a decade? According to Judge Joseph LaPlante, it was Freeman’s faith in his own libertarian/voluntarist ideas.

“It’s not that the ideology caused the crime, but the ideology caused him to lose perspective,” LaPlante said.

After taking millions of dollars from elderly and desperate people being victimized by online scammers, Ian Freeman told United States District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante that he was a victim in the Bitcoin conspiracy case.

“I was also a victim of the scammers,” Freeman told LaPlante.

According to Freeman’s telling, he was simply operating the Shire Free Church dedicated to spreading the Good News about Bitcoin when the victims of romance scams and other confidence tricks started buying the cybercurrency from his exchange. Those victims were trained by their scammers to lie to Freeman to get around his security system, making him an unwitting accomplice to the scams.

“I’m sorry those people were taken advantage of, and I couldn’t stop them all,” Freeman said. 

But Assistant United States Attorney Georgiana MacDonald told LaPlante that Freeman was a manipulative liar who knew exactly what he was doing when he set up his BitCoin exchange. 

“He is an expert conman who has a spin for everything and who executed a very clever scheme,” MacDonald said.

The state alleged that Freeman set up his Bitcoin exchange using various entities like the Shire Free Church to conceal what he was doing — laundering money for online criminals. He advertised his commitment to “privacy” and even let the world know he would exchange Bitcoin for Nigerian currency. At the same time, Freeman charged exorbitant fees between 10 and 20 percent, enriching himself along the way.

“He knew what he was doing,” MacDonald said. 

Most mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges charge less than one percent for transactions. MacDonald said Freeman bought his Bitcoin through legitimate exchanges with far lower fees. Freeman was open to attracting criminals to his exchange, she said. The scammers would have victims buy Bitcoin directly from Freeman and deposit it in their digital wallets. The scammers would then cash out the Bitcoin, essentially without a trace.

“Why were scam victims from all over the country buying from Ian Freeman?” MacDonald said. 

A jury convicted Freeman on eight felony counts, including conspiracy to launder money obtained through wire fraud, connected to his Bitcoin exchange. Freeman disputed that he knowingly participated in the scams but acknowledged that the jury voted to convict. That meant they either did not like him or did not believe him, Freeman said.

“I have to accept that,” Freeman said.

His wife, Bonnie Freeman, insisted her husband would never hurt anyone. She said that his business was part of his Shire Free Church, which sought to change the world for the better through Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin is sacred to us,” Bonnie Freeman said.

Freeman’s attorneys, Mark Sisti and Richard Guerriero, plan to appeal the convictions.

Freeman started the day facing up to 21 years in prison. But LaPlante said the sentencing range for the case was out of line with the conduct, calling that amount of time unreasonable in this case.

While Freeman was seeking 38 months, or a little more than three years, LaPlante said the 96-month sentence he imposed was appropriate. LaPlante denied Guerrireo and Sisti’s motion to delay the sentence pending the appeal, saying they are unlikely to get the sentence overturned or reduced on appeal.

“I can’t see that happening,” LaPlante said.

Freeman was arrested in 2021 when federal agents raided his home and businesses associated with his Bitcoin exchange. Five other people were arrested along with Freeman in the case, earning the nickname the “Crypto 6” in libertarian circles. All of the other members of the Crypto 6 either had charges dropped or took plea deals, resulting in minimal prison sentences. 

Aria DiMezzo, 35, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after she took a plea deal earlier this year. Rich Paul, 56, Renee Spinella, 28, and Andrew Spinella, 37, all pleaded guilty as well and have served their sentences. Paul was in the group of supporters who filled the courtroom Monday. U.S. Marshals admonished him due to his emotional outbursts in court.

The sixth suspect, Colleen Fordham, 65, had the charges against her dropped.

Freeman, DiMezzo, and Nobody are all part of the Free Keene collective, an offshoot of the Free State Project. The group made a show of kicking Freeman out of the movement in 2014 after he repeatedly advocated for lowering the age of consent.

The Free State Project is a libertarian initiative started by Jason Sorens to overtake the state’s government. Freeman is also an advocate of seceding from the United States.