William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez, founders of the Bitcoin mixer Samourai Wallet, pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. They face up to five years in prison, having changed their initial not guilty pleas. In exchange for their guilty plea, the U.S. Department of Justice dropped a more severe money laundering charge, which could have led to a potential 20-year sentence. Samourai Wallet was accused of enabling users to obscure their digital currency transactions, and the DOJ alleged that the app laundered over $100 million in illicit funds. Prosecutors argued that while promoting Samourai as a privacy service, Hill and Rodriguez were aware that it was being used for large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion. The founders are scheduled to be sentenced on November 6. Advocacy groups contest that the case reflects a misunderstanding of what constitutes a money transmitter and continue to advocate for the dismissal of the charges against them, emphasizing the importance of privacy in financial transactions.

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