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Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill were sentenced to prison for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business that laundered over $237 million in criminal proceeds. The Manhattan federal court imposed a five-year sentence for Rodriguez and a four-year sentence for Hill, along with fines, supervised release, and more than $6.3 million in forfeiture. Prosecutors detailed how Samourai Wallet was promoted as a cryptocurrency mixer, using features like Whirlpool and Ricochet to obscure the origins of bitcoin transactions and make tracing more difficult, with over 80,000 bitcoin—valued at more than $2 billion at the time—processed through the service between 2017 and 2019.
The founders actively marketed Samourai Wallet to darknet users and acknowledged in private communications that their service was designed to facilitate the concealment of illicit funds. The case highlights ongoing law enforcement efforts to target cryptocurrency platforms that enable money laundering and criminal activity, as well as the increasing regulatory scrutiny on digital asset services that operate outside of established financial compliance frameworks.
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The co-founders of the Samourai Wallet cryptocurrency mixing service, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, have been sentenced to prison for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and laundering over $237 million in criminal proceeds. U.S. prosecutors detailed that the pair knowingly facilitated transactions linked to drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, cyber-intrusions, fraud, sanctioned jurisdictions, murder-for-hire, and child exploitation. Rodriguez received a five-year sentence, while Hill was sentenced to four years, with both also facing three years of supervised release and $250,000 fines. The operation, which began in 2015, used features like "Whirlpool" to mix Bitcoin transactions and "Ricochet" to add extra transaction hops, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace illicit funds. Upon their arrests in April 2024, authorities seized Samourai's servers and domains, and the Android app was removed from the Google Play Store. The founders pleaded guilty in August 2025 and agreed to forfeit over $237 million, representing the total criminal proceeds linked to Samourai transactions. Prosecutors emphasized that Rodriguez and Hill actively promoted the service to criminal users and encouraged illegal activity through various online channels. The case highlights ongoing law enforcement efforts to disrupt cryptocurrency-based money laundering operations and target platforms that facilitate financial crimes.
Jun 29, 2026
U.S. prosecutors and courts advanced multiple cases tied to large-scale cryptocurrency fraud and laundering operations that targeted American victims through fake trading platforms and social-engineering lures. In one California case, **Jingliang Su**, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after admitting he helped launder more than **$36.9 million** stolen from 174 victims by a scam network operating from Cambodia; the court also ordered more than **$26.8 million** in restitution. Authorities said the fraud used unsolicited messages, calls, texts, dating platforms, and bogus crypto-investment websites to persuade victims to transfer funds, which were then routed through U.S. shell companies, bank accounts, Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, and **Tether (`USDT`) wallets** controlled abroad. In a related prosecution, **Daren Li**, a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering after authorities said he and co-conspirators moved more than **$73 million** in victim proceeds through shell companies, U.S. financial accounts, wire transfers, and conversion into `USDT`; he was later sentenced to **20 years in federal prison**. The cases form part of a broader Justice Department crackdown on transnational crypto-enabled investment scams and money-laundering networks, with officials reporting that multiple co-conspirators have pleaded guilty and that the U.S. Secret Service played a central investigative role.
Jun 29, 2026
Evan Tangeman, a 22-year-old from Newport Beach, California, was sentenced to 70 months in prison after pleading guilty to a `RICO` conspiracy tied to a cybercriminal network that stole roughly **$230 million to $260 million** in cryptocurrency from victims. Prosecutors said Tangeman laundered at least **$3.5 million** between October 2023 and May 2025 for the group, which allegedly stole more than **4,100 Bitcoin** from a Washington, D.C., victim in August 2024 and used the proceeds to fund luxury homes, private jets, high-end vehicles, private security, and other lavish purchases. Authorities said the organization, identified by law enforcement as the **Social Engineering Enterprise**, targeted wealthy cryptocurrency holders using stolen and dark-web-sourced data, spoofed phone numbers, impersonation of Google and Gemini support staff, and remote-access tools including **AnyDesk** to obtain Bitcoin Core private keys. Investigators alleged the group then obscured the proceeds through mixers, exchanges, peel chains, pass-through wallets, and VPNs, while Tangeman also helped rent properties under false identities and destroy devices after arrests of key members. Another alleged launderer, **Kunal Mehta**, has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
Jun 29, 2026