Operators of crypto platform plead guilty to enabling money laundering

Cryptocurrency wallet

The owners of cryptocurrency mixing service Samourai Wallet pleaded guilty to transmitting more than $200 million in criminal transactions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said Wednesday.

Chief executive Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Lonergan Hill owned and ran Samourai, a mobile app, as a criminal operation that for years laundered money for criminals. The app, now shut down, was downloaded more than 100,000 times, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ says Rodriguez, 36, and Hill, 67, created Samourai in 2015 specifically to conceal transactions among criminals using cryptocurrency, mainly bitcoin. The app made it difficult to trace the funds from their origin to their destination.

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