The founders of this platform are accused of having laundered 2 billion dollars in Bitcoin!

Keion Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, co-founders of Samurai Wallet, have been arrested and charged with running a business involved in laundering $2 billion through Bitcoin mixing service, Whirlpool.

Samurai Wallet founders face $2 billion money laundering charges

Keon Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, co-founders of Samurai Wallet, have been arrested. They were charged with conspiracy to launder money and running a business involved in laundering $2 billion through the Bitcoin mixing service, Whirlpool. This case raises serious questions about the line drawn by regulators between criminality and the protection of the privacy of blockchain users.

Keon Rodriguez is CEO and co-founder of Samurai, while William Lonergan-Hill is the company's chief technology officer. And according to to the American authoritiesKeion Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill were fully aware of the illegal activities associated with the Whirlpool currency mixing app.

Accusations against Samurai's founders include running illegal transactions through their Whirlpool wallet and mixing service worth more than $2 billion. In addition to the laundering of more than 100 million dollars linked to criminal activities. They are also accused of promoting money laundering on Twitter and publicly admitting that their clients include individuals seeking to hide criminal activities. In addition to recognizing that their income mainly comes from black market players.

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In general, a cryptocurrency mixer is a service that increases transaction privacy by mixing user funds with each other. This service also aims to avoid tracking individual transactions on public blockchains such as Bitcoin.

After the announcement of this arrest, a community came out Bitcoin To support Rodriguez and Hill, asserting that privacy is not a crime. Additionally, the founders of an open source app like Samurai should not be held responsible for violations and crimes committed by others.

This event is reminiscent of the arrest of the promoters Tornado Casha cryptocurrency mixer on the Ethereum blockchain, is accused of laundering $7 billion in cryptocurrencies through its smart contract.

In coordination with Icelandic authorities, Samurai Wallet's web servers and domain were confiscated. A forfeiture warrant was also executed against their mobile app on the Google Play Store. The wallet's founders face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and 5 years for running an unlicensed money transfer business.