TL;DR
- Arrest and Charges: Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of Samourai Wallet, was released on a $1 million bond with strict conditions, including no involvement with Samourai Wallet or cryptocurrency transactions. He and William Hill face charges for over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and laundering over $100 million.
- Regulatory Pressure: The case has raised concerns about increased regulatory scrutiny on crypto privacy wallets in the US, leading other wallet providers like Phoenix Wallet and Wasabi Wallet to suspend services in the US.
- International Operation: The crackdown on Samourai Wallet involved IRS-CI Cyber units from New York and Los Angeles, and international law enforcement, and resulted in the app’s removal from the Google Play Store in the US.
Keonne Rodriguez, the co-founder of Samourai Wallet, has been released on a $1 million bond in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on April 29, 2024. Rodriguez will be confined to strict conditions, such as limiting involvement with Samourai Wallet and any form of cryptocurrency transaction.
Rodriguez and his co-defendant, William Hill, are facing charges for allegedly executing over $2 billion in unlawful transactions and laundering over $100 million in criminal proceeds. The case has sparked fears of broader regulatory pressure in the US on crypto privacy wallets.
Rodriguez managed to secure his freedom by pledging a property located at 610 Wood Street, Harmony, PA as a bond. Despite his release, he is barred from operating, working, or providing services for Samourai Wallet.
Additionally, he is forbidden from participating in any cryptocurrency transactions, whether directly or indirectly, unless he has received prior authorization. Moreover, Rodriguez is instructed to avoid any contact with his co-defendant, unless it is in a legal setting with their lawyers present.
Samourai Case: The Arrest of Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill
In the meantime, William Hill, who is Rodriguez’s co-defendant, is presently under detention in Portugal and is in the process of being extradited. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has plans to extradite Hill to the U.S. to face charges similar to those of Rodriguez. This legal conflict arose in the wake of allegations that Samourai Wallet was involved in facilitating transactions worth illicit billions.
According to Special Agent Thomas Fattorusso from the Criminal Investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS-CI), Samourai Wallet allegedly facilitated transactions worth approximately $2 billion that evaded regulatory oversight. Furthermore, Agent Fattorusso accused Samourai Wallet of laundering criminal proceeds exceeding $100 million.
The clampdown on the operations of Samourai Wallet was a joint operation involving the Cyber units of IRS-CI in New York and Los Angeles, in collaboration with international law enforcement agencies. This operation resulted in the confiscation of Samourai’s operational infrastructure and the removal of its app from the Google Play Store in the United States.
In light of these events, other self-custody cryptocurrency wallet providers, such as Phoenix Wallet and Wasabi Wallet, have voluntarily suspended their services for customers in the United States.
The entities operating these wallets have expressed apprehension about the ambiguous regulatory landscape that is impacting their operations and the wider repercussions for the cryptocurrency sector.
