On November 19th, William “Bill” Hill, 67, co-founder of the Bitcoin mixing service Samurai Wallet, was sentenced to four years in prison for operating an unauthorized money transfer business that processed more than $237 million in criminal proceeds, according to journalist Frank Korba.
Hill pleaded guilty in July in the Southern District of New York, admitting that the platform he co-founded was used to conceal illicit funds from activities such as drug trafficking, darknet markets, cyber intrusions, fraud, licensed jurisdictions, murder-for-hire schemes and child pornography websites.
His co-founder, Keonne Rodriguez, received a five-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors said Hill and Rodriguez actively promoted Samurai Wallet to criminal users on darknet forums and knew internally that the commingling process functioned as “Bitcoin money laundering.”
Authorities say the two operated Samurai Wallet’s Whirlpool and Ricochet services to conceal the source of criminal proceeds from drug trafficking, darknet markets, fraud schemes, cybercrime and even murder-for-hire operations.
Whirlpool coordinated Bitcoin exchanges between users, and Ricochet added multiple transaction “hops” to make tracking more difficult. Prosecutors say from 2017 to 2019, more than 80,000 bitcoins, worth more than $2 billion at the time, were circulated through the service, generating more than $6 million in fees.
According to court records, Rodriguez and Hill actively encouraged criminal use through Samurai Wallet, with Rodriguez describing the service as “Bitcoin money laundering” and Hill promoting Whirlpool on darknet forums as making illegal funds “untraceable.”
Prosecutors also alleged that he publicly encouraged hackers to launder funds stolen following a 2020 social media hack.
Hill’s sentence was reduced because of his age and recent diagnosis of autism, and the judge granted him three years of supervised release from Lisbon and imposed a $250,000 fine.
The lawsuit reflects a growing crackdown on privacy-focused crypto tools following similar charges against developers of platforms like Tornado Cash.
At his sentencing, Hill expressed remorse, saying, “I deeply regret and am ashamed of my actions,” and emphasized increased scrutiny of services aimed at concealing digital asset transactions.
Samurai Wallet CEO Judgment
As mentioned above, Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez was sentenced to five years in prison earlier this month for the same scheme.
Rodriguez’s sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Dennis Cote in Manhattan after an hour-long hearing.
Rodriguez and Hill were arrested in April 2024 and charged with money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unauthorized money transfer business.
The Justice Department framed this case as part of a broader crackdown on crypto-mixing services, highlighting that the defendants are actively promoting illegal money laundering that undermines trust in digital assets.
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