A Jackson pastor was found guilty Friday for taking cash bribes in exchange for allowing two operators of an illegal bitcoin exchange use a federal credit union he controlled.

A jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan found Trevon Gross, the founding and lead pastor at Hope Cathedral in Jackson, guilty of conspiracy and bribery charges for his involvement in a bitcoin scheme, which netted him $150,000 in bribes.

Gross faces up to 35 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Anthony R. Murgio and Yuri Lebedev charged customers a fee to exchange cash for bitcoins, a virtual currency, through Coin.mx.

"In doing so, they knowingly exchanged cash for people whom they believed may be engaging in criminal activity," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said in a press release announcing the arrests of Murgio and Lebedev in July 2015.

The two Florida residents also allowed people who conduct "ransomware" attacks - a practice in which hackers take a person's computer hostage in exchange for ransom - to receive the proceeds earned from those alleged crimes, authorities said.

To cover their tracks, Murgio and Lebedev ran front companies, such as the sports memorabilia trading company Collectables Club, to trick banks into thinking they were operating legitimate businesses, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said between October 2013 and January 2015 Murgio and Lebedev exchanged at least $1.8 million for bitcoins through Coin.mx, helping tens of thousands of customers.

In 2014, the two teamed up with Gross, who allowed Murgio and Lebedev to take control of Hope FCU, a federal credit union in Lakewood that Gross led. Gross took $150,000 in bribes from Murgio and Lebedev, and in exchange allowed them to funnel illegal bitcoin transfers from Coin.mx, prosecutors said.

This allowed Murgio and Lebedev to hide their unlawful bitcoin transactions from banks, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Gross used the bribes to pay for personal expenses, including payments to his personal credit cards.

Murgio, of Tampa, Fla., pleaded guilty in January. Lebedev, of Jacksonville, Fla., was also found guilty on Friday of conspiracy and bribery charges.

An attorney for Lebedev did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An attorney representing Gross, Henry E. Klingeman, emailed the following statement to NJ Advance Media: "On behalf of Pastor Gross, we will now seek a judgment of acquittal from the Court and - if and when the time comes - a fair and lenient sentence."

Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.