Federal Prosecutors Charge Samurai Wallet Founders with Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
Federal prosecutors have charged Samurai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill with conspiracy to commit money laundering, marking a significant development in the U.S. government’s crackdown on crypto mixing tools used by illicit actors and foreign governments.
The charges, announced in a press release on Wednesday, allege that Rodriguez and Hill developed, marketed, and operated the mixer, which facilitated over $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets. In total, the mixer is said to have facilitated around $2 billion in unlawful transactions since 2015.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez, 35, and Hill, 65, collected approximately $4.5 million in fees for their mixing services. They now face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, with potential maximum sentences of 20 years and five years, respectively.
Rodriguez was arrested in Pennsylvania on Wednesday morning and is set to be arraigned soon, while Hill, who serves as Samourai Wallet’s CTO, was arrested in Portugal and will be extradited to the U.S.
In addition to the arrests, the Samourai Wallet website, hosted in Iceland, has been seized, and a seizure warrant has been issued for the mobile application on the Google Play Store.
The Department of Justice’s press release highlighted how Rodriguez and Hill openly encouraged users to launder criminal proceeds through the mixer, citing tweets and private messages. They also allegedly targeted investors by marketing to “dark/grey market participants.”
These arrests come as the DOJ gears up for a trial against Roman Storm, a developer of Tornado Cash, another crypto mixing service. The DOJ’s Washington, D.C. unit recently secured a conviction against Roman Sterlingov, the operator of Bitcoin Fog, on money laundering charges.
The crackdown on crypto mixing services signals the government’s commitment to combating illicit financial activities in the digital asset space. Stay tuned for further updates on this developing story.
