NEW YORK — William “Bill” Hill, 67, one of the co-founders of Bitcoin mixer Samurai Wallet, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for his role in creating a privacy tool that prosecutors say was used to launder at least $237 million in criminal proceeds.
District Judge Dennis Cote of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) recently sentenced Hill’s colleague, Samurai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez, to the statutory maximum of five years in prison for the same crime (conspiracy to operate an unauthorized money transfer business, to which both men pleaded guilty in July), but said Hill’s sentence was “variable” due to several mitigating factors, including Hill’s recent diagnosis of autism and his advanced age.
“I accept that the defendant will have a more difficult time in prison than many others,” Court said. “Otherwise, he would be sentenced to 60 months in prison.”
Hill’s attorney, Roger Burlingame of the Dechert law firm, spent much of Wednesday’s hearing detailing how Hill’s autism was an explanation, or, in Burlingame’s words, “the key to solving the mystery” of Hill’s actions.
Burlingame said Bitcoin was “like a silver lining” to white thinkers like Hill, who was drawn to blockchain technology’s “idealism and absolutism,” its “noble purpose, Orwellian dystopia” of fighting off encroaching governments, and its built-in community of fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts.
Hill’s lawyer also said his autism explains why he thought what he was doing at Samurai Wallet was legal. Because the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) did not require non-custodial wallets to be registered as money transfer businesses, Mr Burlingame said Mr Hill acted as if there was a “force field” around his actions, adding that Mr Hill had come to view this as a “pathetically naive view…magical thinking and an autistic worldview”.
Burlingame asked Hill to sentence Hill to prison, adding that the three months he served in a Portuguese prison last year was enough punishment to deter him from breaking the law again.
“Given his extreme sensitivity, prison is very hard on him,” Burlingame said, adding that forced socialization in prison was “torture” for Hill.
As Burlingame spoke, Cote interjected several times to ask if Hill understood that his actions were not only illegal but morally wrong.
“There are ways to say there was no violation of the law, but that’s not true,” Cote said. “I completely deny that the defendant does not know the difference between right and wrong and that his autism prevents him from living a moral life.”
When it was Hill’s turn to address the judge, he was visibly emotional as he talked about the negative impact his prosecution had on his wife, Sabrina, and other relatives.
“I told myself that my job was for (freedom), but in reality I was justifying my own hubris,” Hill said. “I have learned a painful but important lesson from this experience. I take full responsibility for my actions.”
Cote sentenced Hill to 48 months in prison, plus three years of supervised release. He will be allowed to serve this period from Lisbon, where he lives with his wife, and will also be fined $250,000. Cote said he plans to recommend that Hill receive credit for the time he served in Portugal before being extradited to the United States, potentially reducing the remainder of his sentence by 11 weeks.
Mr. Hill must turn himself in to begin his sentence by January 2, 2026.
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