Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation. He owns marginal amounts of bitcoin and ether.
Federal prosecutors charged Samurai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill with conspiracy to commit money laundering on Wednesday, as the U.S. government continues its approach to prosecuting crypto mixing tools that may be used by illicit actors and foreign governments to hide fund transfers.issued Wednesday, the pair developed, marketed and operated the mixer, which"facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets.
Rodriguez, 35, and Hill, 65, collected approximately $4.5 million in fees for their mixing services, according to prosecutors. Rodriguez was arrested on Wednesday morning and will be arraigned in Pennsylvania today or tomorrow, according to the press release. Hill, Samourai Wallet’s CTO, was arrested on Wednesday morning in Portugal and will be extradited to the U.S.
Samourai has been in development since 2015, the DOJ press release said, and Rodriguez and Hill"encouraged and openly invited users to launder criminal proceeds" through the mixer, the press release said, citing tweets and private messages.
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