Samourai Wallet Co-Founder Keonne Rodriguez Pleads Not Guilty, Released on $1M Bond

NEW
YORK
—
Samourai
Wallet
co-founder
Keonne
Rodriguez
pleaded
not
guilty
to
two
criminal
charges
tied
to
creating
and
marketing
the
privacy-focused
bitcoin
wallet
application
and
mixing
service
in
a
Manhattan
courtroom
on
Monday.

Rodriguez,
35,
and
his
Samourai
Wallet
co-founder
William
Lonergan
Hill,
65,
were
arrested
last
week
–
Rodriguez
in
Pennsylvania
and
Hill
in
Portugal
–
and
charged
with
one
count
each
of
conspiracy
to
commit
money
laundering
and
conspiracy
to
operate
an
unlicensed
money
transmitting
business.
The
charges
carry
a
maximum
sentence
of
20
years
and
five
years,
respectively.

Prosecutors
have
alleged
that,
between
2015
and
the
seizure
of
Samourai
Wallet’s
servers
last
week,
the
app
“facilitated
more
than
$100
million
in
money
laundering
transactions
from
illegal
dark
web
markets,”
and
around
$2
billion
total
in
“unlawful
transactions.”

The
arrests
and
shutdown
of
Samourai
Wallet
come
as
the
U.S.
government
prepares
for
its
case
against
Tornado
Cash
developer

Roman
Storm,
and
have
led
to
an
outcry
among
many
in
the
crypto
industry,
who
believe
the
case
is
a
sign
the
government
is
attempting
to
criminalize
financial
privacy.

In
the
Department
of
Justice’s
(DOJ)
press
release
announcing
the
pair’s
arrest
last
week,
prosecutors
said
that
Rodriguez
and
Hill
“encouraged
and
openly
invited
users
to
launder
criminal
proceeds”
and
considered
“restricted
markets”
to
be
a
target
demographic.

Rodriguez
was
initially
arrested
around
6
a.m.
at
his
home
in
Harmony,
Penn.
on
April
24.
He
was
subsequently
released
by
a
Pennsylvania
judge
on
a
$25,000
bond
and
ordered
to
present
himself
before
a
magistrate
judge
in
the
Southern
District
of
New
York
(SDNY)
on
Monday
morning.

Magistrate
Judge
Barbara
Moses
ruled
to
release
Rodriguez
on
a
$1
million
bond
on
Monday,
accepting
the
conditions
set
in
a
bail
package
that
both
federal
prosecutors
and
Rodriguez’s
lawyers
–
Sean
Buckley
and
Michael
Keilty
of
international
law
firm
Kobre
Kim
–
had
agreed
to.

Rodriguez’s
bond
will
be
secured
by
real
estate
in
Pennsylvania
and
the
signature
of
his
wife
and
another
family
member.
Other
than
traveling
to
and
from
court
proceedings,
Rodriguez
will
remain
at
home
and
will
be
monitored
by
location
tracking
technology.

Rodriguez’s
next
hearing
will
be
in
Manhattan
on
May
14
at
2
p.m.
in
front
of
District
Judge
Richard
Berman.

Berman
oversaw
Mango
Markets
exploiter
Avraham
Eisenberg’s
trial
earlier
this
year.