Samourai Wallet Founders Accused of Laundering $100M

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The creators of the anonymous Bitcoin wallet Samourai Wallet have been charged by US federal prosecutors for aiding in the laundering of $100 million in criminal proceeds.

On April 24, the CEO of the service, Keonne Rodriguez, was arrested in the United States, while the CTO, William Lonergan Hill, has been apprehended in Portugal and is awaiting extradition.

According to authorities, Rodriguez and Hill operated an unlicensed money transmitting business from 2015 until February 2024, processing over $2 billion in anonymous transactions.

The duo allegedly handled funds from sanctioned individuals, cybercriminals, and darknet marketplaces such as Silk Road and Hydra. Working with Icelandic law enforcement, authorities were able to seize the servers and domain of Samourai (https://samourai.io/).

Additionally, a warrant was issued for the arrest of the mobile wallet application in the Google Play store, which had over 100,000 downloads.