On November 19, William “Bill” Hill, 67, one of the co-founders of Bitcoin mixing service Samourai Wallet, was handed a four-year prison sentence. He was found guilty of running an unlicensed money transmitting business that processed over a whopping $237 million in illegal funds, as reported by journalist Frank Corva.
Back in July, Hill pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York. He admitted that the platform he co-founded was used to hide dirty money from activities like drug trafficking, dealings on the dark web, cybercrime, and even heinous acts like murder-for-hire schemes and a child pornography website. Yikes!
His partner in crime, Keonne Rodriguez, got hit with a five-year sentence.
Prosecutors stated that both Hill and Rodriguez actively marketed Samourai Wallet to criminal elements on darknet forums, fully aware that their mixing service was basically acting as “money laundering for Bitcoin.”
Authorities revealed that they operated services like Whirlpool and Ricochet, designed to hide the origins of money from a variety of illegal activities including drug-related crimes, fraud, cyber mishaps, and even murder-for-hire plots.
Whirlpool was all about coordinating Bitcoin exchanges between users, while Ricochet added several transaction “hops” to make tracking those funds even tougher. Between 2017 and 2019, over 80,000 Bitcoin—worth more than $2 billion at the time—passed through these services, racking up more than $6 million in fees, according to prosecutors said.
In court, it was revealed that Rodriguez and Hill actively pushed for the criminal use of Samourai Wallet, with Rodriguez even going so far as to call their services “money laundering for Bitcoin.” Hill also touted Whirlpool on a darknet forum, claiming it made illicit funds “untraceable.”
They didn’t stop there; prosecutors argued that they encouraged hackers to launder stolen funds after a major social media hack in 2020.
Due to his age and a recent autism diagnosis, the judge reduced Hill’s sentence, allowing him to serve three years of supervised release from Lisbon. He was also hit with a hefty $250,000 fine.
This case highlights a growing crackdown on privacy-focused crypto tools, similar to prosecutions of developers from platforms like Tornado Cash.
At his sentencing, Hill expressed deep remorse, saying, “I am deeply remorseful and ashamed of what I did.” This emphasizes the increasing scrutiny on services that are meant to mask digital asset transactions.
Samourai Wallet’s CEO sentencing
As we mentioned earlier, Keonne Rodriguez, the CEO of Samourai Wallet, received a five-year prison sentence earlier this month for his involvement in the same scheme.
Rodriguez’s sentencing took place in front of U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan after an intense hour-long hearing.
Both Rodriguez and Hill were arrested in April 2024 and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and running an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The Department of Justice framed this as part of a broader crackdown on crypto mixing services, highlighting how the defendants actively promoted the laundering of illicit funds, which erodes trust in digital assets.