Samourai Wallet Co-Founder Sentenced to Four Years for Crypto Money Laundering
Samourai Wallet co-founder William Hill was sentenced to four years for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business processing $237 million in criminal proceeds.Summary
William "Bill" Hill, co-founder of the Bitcoin mixing service Samourai Wallet, was sentenced to four years in prison for running an unlicensed money transmitting business that handled over $237 million in illicit funds. Hill pleaded guilty in July, admitting the platform was used to conceal proceeds from drug trafficking, darknet markets, fraud, and murder-for-hire schemes. The service's Whirlpool and Ricochet tools obscured transaction origins, processing over 80,000 Bitcoin between 2017 and 2019. Hill's sentence was reduced due to his age and autism diagnosis, and he received three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. This case is part of a broader crackdown on privacy-focused crypto tools, following the prosecution of Tornado Cash developers. Hill's co-founder, Keonne Rodriguez, previously received a five-year sentence for the same scheme.
(Source：Bitcoin Magazine)