Samourai Wallet founders could be looking at a five-year prison term as U.S. prosecutors have pushed for maximum sentencing for their alleged roles in operating a crypto mixing service used to launder hundreds of millions in illicit funds.
Summary
- Samourai Wallet founders can face a five-year prison term for their roles in operating an unlicensed money transmitter.
- The sentencing has been scheduled for Nov. 6.
- Prosecutors claim the pair marketed Samourai to darknet users and earned over $6.3 million in fees from illicit activity.
A sentencing memorandum filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said the founders, William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, “repeatedly solicited, encouraged, and invited criminals” to use the platform, ultimately turning Samourai Wallet into a “haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.”
“Rodriguez and Hill were not mere bystanders to the money laundering conducted through Samourai; they affirmatively wanted criminals to use Samourai to commit money laundering and marketed Samourai accordingly,” the filing said.
Prosecutors cited a 2018 WhatsApp message in which Rodriguez described mixing as “money laundering for bitcoin,” implying that the founders had been fully aware of how their tools were being used.
Hill, according to the filing, took to dark web forums like Dread to pitch Samourai’s Whirlpool service, telling users it could help “clean dirty BTC” and make their transactions “untraceable.”
“Through Samourai, Rodriguez and Hill earned millions of dollars in fees by laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces (including multiple murder-for-hire solicitations and the distribution of child sexual abuse materials), cyber intrusions and frauds, sanctions evasion, and other criminal activities,” the filing added.
Estimates in the filing suggest Samourai Wallet managed to solicit over $6.3 million in fees from their mixing services between 2015 and 2024, equivalent to roughly 246.3 BTC, which is now valued at over $26.9 million due to Bitcoin’s meteoric rise since.
Prosecutors have urged the court to impose the full five-year sentence for violation of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business under 18 U.S.C. § 371. However, the probation office has recommended a more lenient sentence of 42 months for each defendant.
The judge will now have the final say, and sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 6 for Rodriguez and Nov. 7 for Hill in the Southern District of New York.
History of Samourai wallet case
For those unaware, authorities shut down Samourai Wallet in April 2024 on the grounds of facilitating unlicensed money transmission and enabling criminals to launder illicit funds through its privacy-enhancing features.
Subsequently, the founders were arrested in April 2024. Rodriguez was arrested in the United States, and Hill in Portugal, where he was later extradited to face charges. Both pleaded guilty in July 2025 to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business involving funds they knew were derived from criminal activity.