Keonne Rodriguez, the CEO of Samourai Wallet, was sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison – the statutory maximum – for operating a Bitcoin mixing service that prosecutors said laundered $237 million in illicit funds. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York after an hour-long hearing in Manhattan.
Rodriguez, 35, and co-defendant William Lonergan Hill, the company's CTO, were arrested in April 2024 and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. After more than a year of litigation, both pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, in exchange for prosecutors dropping the more serious money laundering conspiracy charge, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. Hill's sentencing is scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
How Samourai Wallet Allegedly Hid Criminal Activity
Prosecutors alleged that Rodriguez and Hill 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 launch in 2017 and Whirlpool’s inception in 2019, more than 80,000 Bitcoin – valued at over $2 billion at the time – passed through the services, generating over $6 million in fees.
Court documents revealed that Rodriguez and Hill actively encouraged criminal use of the wallet. In WhatsApp messages, Rodriguez described the service as “money laundering for bitcoin,” and Hill promoted Whirlpool on Dread, a darknet forum, as a tool to make illicit funds “untraceable.” Following a 2020 social media hack, the pair tracked stolen funds in real time and publicly urged hackers to launder the proceeds through Samourai Wallet.
Plea Deal and Sentencing Arguments
Rodriguez had requested a sentence of one year and a day, while Hill sought time served. Prosecutors asked for the full five-year statutory maximum for both defendants. Judge Cote imposed the maximum on Rodriguez. Hill’s sentencing is set for Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
Broader Crackdown on Crypto Mixing Services
The Department of Justice framed the case as part of a broader crackdown on cryptocurrency mixing services, following the August conviction of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Special agents from the IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI emphasized that Rodriguez and Hill not only facilitated but actively promoted laundering of illicit proceeds, undermining public trust in digital assets. The verdict sends a clear message to the crypto industry: mixing services cannot operate outside regulatory frameworks, and violators will face severe criminal consequences.