Co-founders of Samourai Wallet arrested and charged with money laundering: DOJ

Policy • April 24, 2024, 3:28PM EDT

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Quick Take

CEO Keonne Rodriguez and Chief Technology Officer William Lonergan Hill were charged on Wednesday with operating the Samourai Wallet.
Prosecutors say Samourai is an unlicensed money-transmitting business and was involved in over $2 billion in unlawful transactions.

Co-founders of the crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet were arrested and prosecutors say they were involved in laundering $100 million from the Silk Road and other illicit markets.

CEO Keonne Rodriguez, 35, and Chief Technology Officer William Lonergan Hill, 65, were charged on Wednesday with operating the Samourai Wallet. Prosecutors say Samourai is an unlicensed money-transmitting business and was involved in over "$2 billion in unlawful transactions and facilitated more than $100 million in money laundering transactions from illegal dark web markets," including Silk Road.

"Rodriguez and Hill allegedly knowingly facilitated the laundering of over $100 million of criminal proceeds from the Silk Road, Hydra Market, and a host of other computer hacking and fraud campaigns. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to relentlessly pursue and dismantle criminal organizations that use cryptocurrency to hide illicit conduct," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement on Wednesday.

Rodriguez was arrested on Wednesday morning and will go either today or on Thursday before a judge in Pennsylvania. Hill was arrested in Portugal and the U.S. is seeking extradition, according to a statement.

Samourai's web servers and domain were also seized and the application is no longer available to be downloaded from the Google Play Store in the U.S., prosecutors said.

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About Author

Sarah is a reporter at The Block covering policy, regulation and legal happenings. Before, Sarah was a reporter with CQ Legal writing about securities regulation, which is where she first started reporting on crypto. Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other finance-related publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri and earned a degree in print and digital journalism. Sarah is based in Washington D.C., and is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.