As per a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice dated April 24, federal prosecutors have charged Rodriguez and Hill with conspiring to commit money laundering and operate an unlicensed money transmitter through the crypto-mixing platform Samourai.
According to the notice, Rodriguez was detained in the United States, while Hill was captured in Portugal and will be extradited for trial. If found guilty, Rodriguez could face a maximum sentence of 20 years, while Hill faces up to five years.
The website of Samourai’s Wallet, hosted in Iceland, was seized, and a request was made to the Google Play Store to remove the application.
Authorities claim that the duo facilitated over $2 billion in illicit transactions through the protocol, earning over $4.5 million in processing fees since 2015. The DOJ stated that the creators of Samourai marketed the platform as being “focused on censorship resistance and black/grey circular economy,” providing a refuge for nefarious actors to conduct covert activities.
Messages and posts on private channels and social media, linked to Hill, were referenced as evidence to bolster the claim that Samourai was aware of criminals using the tool and, in some instances, even endorsed such usage.
The recent arrests are part of a broader crackdown on cryptocurrency mixers, which are believed to be used by threat actors such as North Korea’s Lazarus group to evade oversight and thwart law enforcement efforts.
In the preceding month, federal prosecutors secured a victory in the case against Roman Sterlingov, the founder of Bitcoin Fog, for enabling more than $400 million in illicit drug sales.
The DOJ is pursuing a case against Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. Additionally, other crypto mixers such as Blender and Sinbad have faced sanctions.
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