The United States federal prosecutors are seeking a statutory maximum five-year jail sentence for both Samourai Wallet operators, who are facing sentencing this week. However, a recent filing found that the government alleges that the founders intentionally created and marketed a cryptocurrency mixing service as a safe hub for cyber criminals to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal proceeds.
According to the sentencing memorandum that was filed on Friday, Oct 31, 2025, at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, prosecutors stated that the founders repeatedly encouraged and lured criminals to launder illicit funds using their platform.
The Samourai Wallet founders face justice
This recent case currently ranks as one of the US government’s most aggressive prosecutions of digital asset developers to date. From 2015 to April 2024, when law enforcement terminated the crypto mixing service, authorities reportedly found over $237 million worth of criminal proceeds laundered via Samourai Wallet.
The developers admitted guilt to conspiring to run an unauthorized money-transmitting business that involved funds obtained through criminal activity. Both Rodriguez and Hill confessed that criminals used their platform to launder hacking proceeds and drug trafficking.
In exchange for their admission, the prosecutors dropped three more severe charges: conspiracy to commit sanctions violations, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and federal licensing violations. Interestingly, both of the initial two charges carry implications of potentially up to a 20-year prison sentence.
The court scheduled Rodriguez’s sentencing for this Thursday, November 6, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, and set Hill’s sentencing for the following day.
Samourai Wallet founders’ illegal activities
The US government’s filing references a 2018 WhatsApp chat in which Rodriguez compared crypto mixing to “money laundering for bitcoin.” Furthermore, Hill reportedly advertised Samourai Wallet on dark web sites and forums (a hidden part of the internet often used for illicit activity) by promising that individuals could use it to “clean dirty bitcoin,” and making it hard to trace.
Notably, the defendants received more than $6.3 million in fees from Samourai transactions, exactly 246.3 BTC, which is an estimated $26.9 million today, thanks to Bitcoin’s significant growth.
The filing also found that the criminal proceeds tracked via Samourai Wallet began from dark web marketplaces, such as Hydra and Silk Road, several cryptocurrency exchange attacks, child pornographic websites, and murder-for-hire schemes. Furthermore, the filing reads that some other proceeds came from sanctioned legal entities in North Korea, Russia, and Iran.
While the probation office recommended a 42-month jail term, federal prosecutors are looking for a complete 5-year jail term—the maximum permitted under the United States Constitution § 371.
Notably, this case overwhelms similar incidents in which prosecutors and federal officials have targeted crypto mixers via regulators’ pressure and sanctions.
In a similar development, authorities convicted Roman Storm, the founder of Tornado Cash, of conspiring to run an unauthorized money transmitter platform.
The United States Treasury Department had sanctioned Tornado Cash, alleging that it was used to launder over $7 billion since 2019. The authorities also found that North Korea’s Lazarus Group hackers had used the mixer to launder funds.
