Case Overview: Maximum Sentence for CEO, CTO Awaiting Judgment
On July 2, 2026, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York sentenced Keonne Rodriguez, CEO of Samourai Wallet, to the statutory maximum of five years in prison. Rodriguez, 35, and co-defendant William Lonergan Hill, the company's CTO, were arrested in April 2024 on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. After over 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 carried a maximum of 20 years. Hill's sentencing hearing is set for Friday, July 3 at 11 a.m. ET.
Details of Samourai Wallet's Mixing Services and Financial Scope
Prosecutors alleged that Rodriguez and Hill operated two crypto mixing services within Samourai Wallet: Whirlpool and Ricochet. These services were designed 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 among users, while Ricochet introduced multiple intermediate transactions, or 'hops,' making funds harder to trace. From Ricochet's launch in 2017 and Whirlpool's 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 the darknet forum Dread 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.
Legal Context and Sentencing Arguments
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 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. 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, which Judge Cote imposed on Rodriguez. Hill's sentencing is scheduled for Friday at 11 a.m. ET.