Samourai Wallet founders plead guilty to unlicensed money transmission; DOJ drops laundering, conspiracy charges

The developers behind Samourai Wallet pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money‑transmitting business.

The plea deal secures dismissal of the parallel money laundering conspiracy charge and caps potential prison time at five years. It also includes $237 million in forfeiture and a $400,000 fine.

As journalist Matthew Russell Lee reported on July 30, sentencing is set for November 6. Additionally, the defendants agreed not to appeal if the sentence is five years or less, according to Bitcoin Policy Institute’s head of policy, Zack Shapiro.

Plea deal

Lee reported that Judge Jed Rakoff pressed Keonne Rodriguez to state his criminal conduct “in his own words.”

Rodriguez told the court that his role at the firm meant that he was aware users were using the wallet “to launder criminals’ money.” Prosecutors argued that the knowledge alone is sufficient for a 60 month sentence even if they were not involved in the laundering.

Shapiro noted that had both counts gone to verdict, combined federal guidelines would have pointed to 160 to 210 months. By pleading to the unlicensed transmission conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1960, the developers face a statutory maximum of five years rather than a potential decade-plus exposure.

Defense‑side reaction framed the outcome as a pragmatic hedge rather than a legal endorsement of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) theory.

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and CLO at the DeFi Education Fund argued that the DOJ “misinterprets Section 1960 whenever they accuse a non‑custodial software dev of ‘transferring funds on behalf of the public,’”

Tuminelli added that the pleas don’t change the policy fight over how the law should apply to open‑source wallet software. She said:

“Plea deals are risk calculations.”

Case background

US and international authorities shuttered Samourai on April 24, seizing its domain and web infrastructure in collaboration with the Icelandic and Portuguese police, the IRS, the FBI, and Europol.

The authorities also issued a warrant that removed the Android app from Google Play for US users.

Prosecutors alleged founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill ran a mixing service through Samourai that processed more than $2 billion in Bitcoin tied to illicit activity, including $100 million linked to dark‑web markets. 

The app, one of the best‑known privacy‑focused Bitcoin wallets, had been downloaded over 100,000 times.

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