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The founders of the Samourai Wallet (Samourai) cryptocurrency mixer have pleaded guilty to laundering over $200 million for criminals.<br/>
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​Samourai CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Lonergan Hill <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-wallet-cryptocurrency-mixing-service-plead-guilty" target="_blank">admitted to their involvement</a> in the Samourai money laundering operation, pleading guilty to conspiracy for operating a money transmitting business that handled criminal proceeds, and are now facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison.<br/>
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As part of their plea agreements, Rodriguez and Hill have also agreed to forfeit $237,832,360.55.<br/>
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The two defendants were arrested in April 2024 and <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/us-charges-samourai-cryptomixer-founders-for-laundering-100-million/" target="_blank">charged by the U.S. Department of Justice</a> with two counts of conspiracy: operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business (with a maximum sentence of 5 years) and money laundering (with a maximum sentence of 20 years).<br/>
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The day they were apprehended, Icelandic law enforcement also seized Samourai's domains (samouraiwallet[.]com and samourai[.]io) and servers, while Google removed the Android mobile app from the Play Store after being served a seizure warrant.<br/>
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While this operation was active, the Samourai Wallet mobile application was downloaded over 100,000 times, enabling users to conduct anonymous financial transactions.<br/>
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<img alt="" border="0" class="bbCodeImage" src="https://www.bleepstatic.com/images/news/u/1109292/2024/Samourai_io%20seizure%20banner.jpg"/><br/>
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</div>According to <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/media/1349321/dl" target="_blank">court documents</a>, Rodriguez and Hill have also promoted Samourai as a tool for concealing illicit proceeds, clearly acknowledging its potential for illegal use. In one instance, Rodriguez referred to "mixing" as "money laundering for bitcoin" in a WhatsApp exchange.<br/>
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Hill also advertised Samourai on a dark web forum as a way to make Bitcoin "untraceable" and for "cleaning dirty BTC," acknowledging that the service's clients included dark and grey market participants. <br/>
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In mid-2020, Rodriguez and Hill also tracked proceeds from a major hack and urged the hackers to use Samourai's Whirlpool service rather than report the crime to the authorities. When the hackers chose a different service, both expressed disappointment on social media.<br/>
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Between 2015 and February 2024, criminals used Samourai's Whirlpool Bitcoin mixing service to process over 80,000 Bitcoins (valued at more than $2 billion) in illicit funds from cyber intrusions, illegal dark web markets, a spear phishing scheme, and schemes to defraud decentralized finance protocols.<br/>
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In addition to its crypto mixing services, Samourai also offered "Ricochet," a service that allowed users to send cryptocurrency through unnecessary intermediate transactions and thwart law enforcement and crypto exchange efforts to track funds sourced from criminal activities.<br/>
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The two money laundering services allegedly generated over $6 million in fees from Whirlpool and Ricochet transactions for the two founders.<br/>
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"The defendants created and operated a cryptocurrency mixing service that they knew enabled criminals to wash millions in dirty money, including proceeds from cryptocurrency thefts, drug trafficking operations, and fraud schemes," <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-wallet-cryptocurrency-mixing-service-plead-guilty" target="_blank">said </a>Attorney for the United States Nicolas Roos in a Wednesday press release.<br/>
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"Rodriguez and Hill admitted to operating a money transmitting business that transmitted crime proceeds, essentially 'washing' more than $200 million in 'dirty' money for criminals. They did not just facilitate this illicit movement of money, but also encouraged it," added IRS-CI Special Agent Harry T. Chavis, Jr.<br/>
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<a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/samourai-cryptomixer-founders-pled-guilty-to-laundering-money-for-cybercriminals" target="_blank">@ BleepingComputer </a>
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