Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, co-founders of the cryptocurrency mixing service Samourai Wallet, have pleaded guilty to operating a business that facilitated over $200 million in illegal transactions. The announcement was made by Nicolas Roos, Attorney for the United States acting under authority conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, along with officials from the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the FBI.
Rodriguez, who served as Chief Executive Officer, and Hill, Chief Technology Officer, admitted to participating in a conspiracy to operate a money transmitting business that knowingly transmitted proceeds from illegal activities. These included transactions linked to dark web markets, cyber intrusions, spear phishing schemes, and frauds targeting decentralized finance protocols. The pleas were entered on July 30, 2025 before U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote.
“The defendants created and operated a cryptocurrency mixing service that they knew enabled criminals to wash millions in dirty money, including proceeds from cryptocurrency thefts, drug trafficking operations, and fraud schemes,” said Attorney for the United States Nicolas Roos. “When criminals exploit cryptocurrency technology for illicit purposes, it undermines the public trust and unfairly burdens legitimate cryptocurrency companies that are committed to operating lawfully. This Office and our partner agencies are committed to holding accountable those who exploit emerging technologies to launder crime proceeds.”
“Rodriguez and Hill admitted to operating a money transmitting business that transmitted crime proceeds, essentially ‘washing’ more than $200 million in ‘dirty’ money for criminals,” said Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI, Harry T. Chavis, Jr. “They did not just facilitate this illicit movement of money, but also encouraged it. Special Agents with IRS-CI New York and IRS-CI LA’s Cyber units worked with our federal and international law enforcement partners in this investigation that detailed the company’s clear disregard for the rule of law. Even with all the ‘washing’ in this scheme, no one was clean in these transactions.”
“Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill’s guilty pleas prove their cryptocurrency mixing service–Samourai Wallet–was designed to conceal criminal financial transactions and launder millions of dollars of dirty money,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia. “The FBI is committed to bringing to justice anyone who uses technological innovation to facilitate illicit activity.”
Court documents show that since around 2015 Rodriguez and Hill developed Samourai as a mobile application specifically intended for transmitting criminal proceeds through two main services: Whirlpool—a Bitcoin mixing tool—and Ricochet—which added extra steps between sending and receiving addresses on the blockchain. These features made tracing funds difficult for authorities or exchanges attempting oversight.
From Ricochet’s launch in 2017 through Whirlpool’s inception in 2019, more than 80,000 Bitcoin—valued at over $2 billion based on contemporaneous exchange rates—passed through these services; Samourai collected an estimated $6 million in fees during this period.
Communications cited by prosecutors reveal both founders actively promoted Samourai as useful for concealing criminal proceeds. In WhatsApp messages Rodriguez described mixing as “money laundering for bitcoin.” On darknet forums such as Dread dedicated to illegal marketplace discussions, Hill recommended Samourai Whirlpool as superior for making “dirty BTC” untraceable compared with competitor services.
In June and July 2020 following a widely reported hack of a major social media platform https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/founders-samourai-wallet-cryptocurrency-mixing-service-plead-guilty , both men tracked stolen funds online; rather than report or intervene they encouraged hackers via social media posts to use Samourai’s Whirlpool feature.
Rodriguez (36), from Harmony Pennsylvania; and Hill (67), arrested in Portugal; each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy related to knowingly transmitting crime proceeds—a charge carrying up to five years imprisonment—and agreed as part of their plea deals to forfeit more than $237 million.
The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs played a key role securing Hill’s extradition from Portugal last year.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew K. Chan, David R. Felton, and Cecilia Vogel within the Complex Frauds & Cybercrime Unit alongside Illicit Finance & Money Laundering Unit staff.
