**Bitcoin Mixing Service Co-Founder Sentenced for Money Laundering**
William “Bill” Hill, the 67-year-old co-founder of the Bitcoin mixing service Samourai Wallet, has been sentenced to four years in prison for running an unlicensed money transmitting operation that facilitated the laundering of over $237 million in criminal proceeds. This sentencing took place on November 19, following Hill’s guilty plea in July in the Southern District of New York. He acknowledged that the platform he helped establish was utilized to hide illicit funds linked to various criminal activities, including drug trafficking, cybercrime, and even murder-for-hire schemes.
Hill’s co-founder, Keonne Rodriguez, received a five-year prison sentence earlier this month for his role in the same operation. Prosecutors revealed that both Hill and Rodriguez actively marketed Samourai Wallet to criminal users on darknet forums, recognizing that its mixing services effectively functioned as a means of laundering Bitcoin. The duo operated Samourai Wallet’s Whirlpool and Ricochet services, which were designed to obscure the origins of funds derived from illegal activities. Whirlpool facilitated Bitcoin exchanges among users, while Ricochet introduced multiple transaction “hops” to complicate tracing efforts.
Between 2017 and 2019, over 80,000 Bitcoin—valued at more than $2 billion at the time—passed through these services, generating over $6 million in fees. Court documents indicated that Rodriguez and Hill encouraged the criminal use of Samourai Wallet, with Rodriguez labeling the services as “money laundering for Bitcoin” and Hill promoting Whirlpool on darknet forums as a way to make illicit funds “untraceable.” They even urged hackers to launder stolen funds following a significant social media hack in 2020.
Hill’s sentence was mitigated due to his age and a recent autism diagnosis, allowing him to serve three years of supervised release from Lisbon, along with a $250,000 fine. This case highlights the increasing scrutiny on privacy-focused cryptocurrency tools, following similar legal actions against developers of platforms like Tornado Cash. At his sentencing, Hill expressed deep remorse, stating, “I am deeply remorseful and ashamed of what I did,” underscoring the growing concerns surrounding services that obscure digital asset transactions.
**FAQ**
**What was the outcome of the Samourai Wallet case?**
William Hill was sentenced to four years in prison, while co-founder Keonne Rodriguez received a five-year sentence for their roles in facilitating money laundering through the Samourai Wallet platform.
