Key Takeaways
- The DOJ is seeking five-year prison sentences for Samourai Wallet founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.
- After pleading guilty in July, Rodriguez and Hill are scheduled for sentencing this week.
- This new prosecution mirrors the DOJ’s earlier charges against the developers of Tornado Cash.
The two founders of Samourai Wallet are being targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which is seeking five-year prison sentences for their alleged role in operating a Bitcoin privacy app accused of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in criminal proceeds.
The case echoes the Justice Department’s earlier pursuit of Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based mixer whose developers were accused of enabling similar laundering activity.
DOJ Allegations
On Friday, October 31, prosecutors submitted a memorandum requesting five-year sentences for both founders, Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.
The filing stated:
“For nearly a decade, Rodriguez and Hill owned and operated a massive money laundering service known as ‘Samourai Wallet,’ which laundered millions of dollars in criminal proceeds on behalf of its customers.”
According to the filing, more than $237 million was laundered through Samourai between 2015 and 2024, with transactions tied to crimes ranging from fraud to murder-for-hire schemes.
Rodriguez served as CEO, while Hill acted as CTO during this period.
Parallels to Tornado Cash
The Samourai Wallet case mirrors the DOJ’s prosecution of Tornado Cash, whose developers were accused of facilitating over $1 billion in illicit transfers.
Tornado Cash’s developers, including Dutch programmer Alexey Pertsev, were charged with maintaining the platform’s infrastructure while allegedly knowing it was being used for money laundering.
U.S. authorities argued that claims of decentralization were exaggerated, asserting that the developers retained significant control over the platform’s operation.
When the Tornado Cash case was announced in 2022, it sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry, marking the first time the U.S. had criminally charged developers of open-source blockchain software.
Organizations such as the Ethereum Foundation voiced support for the developers’ legal defense, arguing that coders should not face criminal liability merely for publishing open-source software.
Like the Tornado Cash case, the Samourai Wallet case underscores the government’s position that developers and executives can be held liable for how their tools are used.
Samourai Founders Sentencing
A federal jury issued a superseding indictment against Rodriguez and Hill in June 2025.
Both later entered guilty pleas to the updated charges on July 30, under separate plea agreements with prosecutors.
In its sentencing memorandum, the government stated that the defendants’ conduct corresponded to an offense level of 35 under the federal sentencing guidelines. This range typically calls for a prison term of 168 to 210 months.
However, because the crime carries a statutory maximum of five years, prosecutors are seeking the full term permitted under Section 371.
Sentencing is scheduled for this week:
- Keonne Rodriguez: November 6.
- William Lonergan Hill: November 7.
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Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
