Key Takeaways:
- Federal Charges: Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, founders of Samourai Wallet, are charged with money laundering conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, involving over $100 million from illicit sources.
- Samourai Wallet’s Operations: Allegedly, Samourai Wallet facilitated approximately $2 billion in illegal transactions since 2015, earning the founders around $4.5 million in service fees.
- Legal Actions and Seizures: Following their arrest, U.S. authorities have seized Samourai Wallet’s website and issued a seizure warrant for their mobile app, signaling intensified crackdowns on crypto mixing services used for money laundering.
Federal prosecutors have charged Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, founders of Samourai Wallet, with money laundering conspiracy.
The charges were announced on Wednesday, highlighting the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to tackle the use of crypto mixing tools by potentially illicit actors and foreign entities to obscure financial transactions.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ARRESTS POPULAR #BITCOIN MIXER SAMOURAI WALLET FOUNDERS AND CEO, CHARGED WITH MONEY LAUNDERING pic.twitter.com/8qyMBGRBjL
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) April 24, 2024
A statement released by the authorities detailed that Rodriguez and Hill were responsible for developing, promoting, and managing a mixer platform.
This platform allegedly processed over $100 million worth of laundered money originating from illegal dark web marketplaces.
Further allegations in the statement claim that from 2015 to the present, Samourai Wallet was involved in approximately $2 billion worth of illegal transactions.
BREAKING: Bitcoin privacy service Samurai Wallet CEO has been arrested for money laundering and the website has been seized by the FBI pic.twitter.com/KEyq4SQbAO
— Crypto Tea (@CryptoTea_) April 24, 2024
These figures were calculated by converting the laundered Bitcoin into U.S. dollars at the rates applicable at the time of each transaction.
The prosecution claims that Rodriguez, aged 35, and Hill, aged 65, garnered about $4.5 million in fees from their mixer service, which offered various fee structures for different features.
Both face charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, with potential maximum sentences of 20 years and five years, respectively.
Rodriguez was detained on Wednesday morning and is expected to be arraigned in Pennsylvania shortly, while Hill was arrested the same morning in Portugal.
Plans for his extradition to the U.S. are underway.
Additionally, U.S. authorities have seized Samourai Wallet’s website, hosted in Iceland, and issued a seizure warrant for the mobile app on the Google Play Store.
JUST IN‼️: Founders and CEO of Samurai Wallet have been arrested and charged with money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting offenses by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. pic.twitter.com/yIeyf8Yy40
— Swan (@Swan) April 24, 2024
Following the arrests, the website’s homepage now displays a cautionary message from U.S. officials.
Since its inception in 2015, Samourai Wallet has been promoted as focusing on resisting censorship and serving the black/grey circular economy.
According to the DOJ, Rodriguez and Hill explicitly encouraged users to launder criminal proceeds via their platform, citing evidence from tweets and private messages.
NEW: Edward Snowden on the U.S. Department of Justice arresting #Bitcoin mixing service Samourai Wallet founders and CEO pic.twitter.com/qmigHJzmZU
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) April 24, 2024
In their efforts to attract investors, the founders highlighted the inclusion of “dark/grey market participants” as part of their target demographic, also focusing on online gambling and asset protection sectors.
These arrests occur as the Department of Justice gears up for the trial of Roman Storm, another crypto mixer service developer, while still celebrating a recent victory in a similar case against Bitcoin Fog’s operator, Roman Sterlingov.
About The Author
Fleming Airunugba, a seasoned Web3 and crypto content expert, leverages his deep understanding of blockchain technology to bring the latest and most impactful news to the crypto community.
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