Samourai Wallet founder charged by US justice
Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, the founders and CEOs of Samourai Wallet, have been charged by the US Department of Justice with money laundering and operating without a license as a money transmitter.
They allegedly facilitated over $2 billion in illicit transactions and laundered $100 million in criminal proceeds through their Bitcoin wallet and mixer. The illicit transactions mainly involved dark web markets and fraudulent schemes against DeFi protocols.
Arrests and measures
Rodriguez was arrested in Pennsylvania, and Hill in Portugal, with the U.S. seeking Hill's extradition. As part of the raid, law enforcement seized Samourai's domain and web servers, and the Samourai Wallet app was removed from the Google Play Store, effectively halting its operations.
Combating cryptocurrency abuse
These measures aim to combat the misuse of cryptocurrencies for criminal activities by dismantling platforms that offer money laundering services.
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