By EZ in News — Apr 24, 2024

Samourai Wallet Founders Arrested & Charged with Money Laundering, Unlicensed Money Transmitting Offenses

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Prosecutors are alleging Samourai Wallet laundered over $100 million in criminal proceeds.

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Federal prosecutors charged Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, founders of Samurai Wallet, with conspiracy to commit money laundering on Wednesday.

Samourai’s web servers and domain (https://samourai.io/) have been seized and a seizure warrant for Samourai’s mobile application was served on the Google Play Store. Per DOJ, the application will no longer be available to be downloaded from the Google Play Store in the United States.

According to a press release, the duo developed, marketed and operated the mixer, which "facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets."

“As alleged, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill are responsible for developing, marketing, and operating Samourai, a cryptocurrency mixing service that executed over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and served as a haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering. Rodriguez and Hill allegedly knowingly facilitated the laundering of over $100 million of criminal proceeds from the Silk Road, Hydra Market, and a host of other computer hacking and fraud campaigns. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to relentlessly pursue and dismantle criminal organizations that use cryptocurrency to hide illicit conduct,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

Prosecutors also indicate that Rodriguez, 35, and Hill, 65, garnered about $4.5 million in service fees for the coinjoin services they provided.

IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso said: “$2 billion in transactions with an unlicensed money transmitter means $2 billion flowed without any oversight, from whomever to wherever...Samourai Wallet is now closed for business.”

The charges include conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to run an unlicensed money transmitting business. These charges could lead to a maximum sentence of 20 years and five years, respectively.