Are you liable if illegal stuff may be happening on a community forum you own?

[jb00]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for legal advice regarding a forum website I own. It is an online community forum just like this one, but it is sort of a buy/sell/exchange place. Mostly people buy, sell and exchange e-currencies. A few of these e-currencies are PayPal, PerfectMoney.com, Payza.com, Skrill.com, Bitcoin etc. There are people (vendors) who join the forum and offer their services of buying and selling these e-currencies. For example, if someone wants to buy Bitcoins. They would sell them Bitcoins and take some other currency (PerfectMoney, PayPal, bank transfer etc.) as payment. They would also buy these currencies and then resell them at a profit. So this is the basic gist of what goes on in my forum.

Now here is the problem. There are some people there who are buying and selling illegal or stolen or hacked funds. For example, stolen or hacked funds from PayPal. It is very difficult for me to pin point who is dealing with these hacked and stolen funds and who is dealing with legitimate funds. When I do find someone dealing with such hacked or stolen currencies, I ban them from the forum. But it is almost impossible to find out which ones are those people. You can take the example of eBay. Many people buy and sell stuff there. Some people are selling legitimate stuff. Some people must also be selling stolen stuff.
How do I earn? These vendors (buyers and sellers of currencies) buy ad spaces from me on the forum to promote their services.

Now, my question is, can I get into legal trouble with this? What can I do to protect myself and my forum from trouble with authorities?

P.S. I am not located in the US. The members (these buyers and sellers) I have on the forum are all international from a lot of countries of the world, a few are from US as well.

EDIT:
If you are only able to provide advice from a US laws perspective then go ahead and assume that I am from the US and then tell me if I should be worried about getting into legal trouble.

 

[eerelations]

Well given that this site is for US law only, if you're not in the US, how can we possibly help you?

 

[jb00]

Well given that this site is for US law only, if you're not in the US, how can we possibly help you?

I understand. Let's just assume I'm from the US. You can answer to my post from the perspective of US laws.

 

[xylene]

You are, at the very least, engaged in money laundering by operating your website, let alone the problems with brokering stolen funds.

 

[jb00]

You are, at the very least, engaged in money laundering by operating your website, let alone the problems with brokering stolen funds.

This activity is not illegal. Exchanging currencies is perfectly legal. Many registered companies in US and UK are doing this as well. For example, www.bitstamp.net.

As the dealing of stolen funds is considered, I DO NOT want that to happen on my site and I get rid of such members who I find to be dealing with that. However, I cannot find every single person doing that. For example, if I steal a mobile phone and put it up on eBay for sale - is eBay liable for that?

 

[eerelations]

I understand. Let's just assume I'm from the US. You can answer to my post from the perspective of US laws.

But US laws may be in complete opposition (or anywhere in between) to the laws of wherever you are. What would be the point of us knocking ourselves out to provide you with information that doesn't apply to you?

 

[eerelations]

If you are only able to provide advice from a US laws perspective...

You already knew this when you deleted the "only US law" statement prior to typing your first post.

 

[jb00]

But US laws may be in complete opposition (or anywhere in between) to the laws of wherever you are. What would be the point of us knocking ourselves out to provide you with information that doesn't apply to you?

I have users on my site that are from US. I have visitors from US. The website is hosted on server that is located in the US. So I am still effected by US laws. I'd appreciate if you could go ahead and advice from a US laws perspective.

 

[Zigner]

I have users on my site that are from US. I have visitors from US. The website is hosted on server that is located in the US. So I am still effected by US laws. I'd appreciate if you could go ahead and advice from a US laws perspective.

Nah - you need to seek local legal counsel.

 

[eerelations]

I have users on my site that are from US. I have visitors from US. The website is hosted on server that is located in the US. So I am still effected by US laws. I'd appreciate if you could go ahead and advice from a US laws perspective.

OK. Because you personally are not in the US, you personally will not be held liable by US law for the illegalities committed by the users of your site.

(However, please understand that there is a strong possibility you may be held liable for these acts by the laws of the country you are in. But hey! You don't care about that, as long as the US doesn't come after you, you're good, right?)

 

[xylene]

Oh I missed the part were you were a registered currency broker.

 

[Proserpina]

This might seem a dumb question but...

Why on earth don't people figure out the legalities with a local attorney, BEFORE they start these types of endeavours?

 

[quincy]

This might seem a dumb question but...

Why on earth don't people figure out the legalities with a local attorney, BEFORE they start these types of endeavours?

If people consulted with attorneys before implementing their various and assorted ideas and plans, defense attorneys might have to pick up part-time jobs to feed their families.

 

[Proserpina]

If people consulted with attorneys before implementing their various and assorted ideas and plans, defense attorneys might have to pick up part-time jobs to feed their families.

Quite true!

 

[eerelations]

I recently moved to Mexico (legally, did all my research and consultations and forms-completions and authorizations-obtaining etc.) and I am amazed at how many Americans (sorry, maybe there are Canadians who do this too, I've only heard about Americans doing it) who are in all kinds of legal trouble here because they came down here thinking they can work, buy houses, start businesses, employ Mexicans, sell stuff, access the free health care system, etc. without even checking on the internet first to see if there are any requirements. (And there are, big time, just like any other country.)

Some of them seem to think that Mexico is just another US state, and some are, well, a tad prejudiced against the Mexican people, as in one guy who asked me "Well how was I supposed to know the Mexican guvmint had computers???"

Really amazing.