"A Samourai Wallet developer was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for operating a crypto mixing service prosecutors say laundered $237 million in illicit funds. Keonne Rodriguez, the CEO of Samourai Wallet, received the statutory maximum from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, following an hour-long hearing in Manhattan, according to journalist Frank Corva."
"Prosecutors said the pair operated Samourai Wallet's crypto mixing services, Whirlpool and Ricochet, to obscure the origins of criminal proceeds from drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, cyber intrusions, fraud schemes, and murder-for-hire operations. Whirlpool coordinated batches of Bitcoin exchanges between users, while Ricochet introduced multiple intermediate transactions, or "hops," to make tracing funds more difficult. From Ricochet's 2017 launch and Whirlpool's 2019 inception, more than 80,000 Bitcoin- valued at over $2 billion at the time - passed through the services, generating over $6 million in fees."
Keonne Rodriguez, Samourai Wallet CEO, received a five-year prison sentence for operating crypto mixing services alleged to have laundered $237 million. William Lonergan Hill, the company's CTO, faces sentencing after pleading to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business; prosecutors dropped more serious money laundering conspiracy charges in the plea deal. The Whirlpool and Ricochet services routed over 80,000 Bitcoin—valued at over $2 billion at the time—through coordinated exchanges and intermediate "hops," generating more than $6 million in fees. Court records show developers encouraged criminal use, described the service as "money laundering for bitcoin," and promoted it as making funds "untraceable."
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