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US charges Samourai cryptomixer founders for laundering $100 million

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US charges Samourai cryptomixer founders for laundering $100 million

Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice for laundering more than $100 million from various criminal enterprises through Samourai, a cryptocurrency mixer service they ran for nearly a decade.

As detailed in a superseding indictment, criminals also used Samourai’s Whirlpool crypto mixer to process over $2 billion in illicit funds between 2015 and February 2024.

In addition to crypto mixing services, Samourai also offered a service called “Ricochet,” which allowed users to send cryptocurrency using additional and unnecessary intermediate transactions to thwart law enforcement and crypto exchange efforts to track funds sourced from criminal activity.

This money laundering activity allegedly earned the two founders around $4.5 million in fees for Whirlpool and Ricochet transactions.

“Since the start of the Whirlpool service in or about 2019, and of the Ricochet service in or about 2017, over 80,000 BTC (worth over $2 billion applying the BTC-USD conversion rates at the time of each transaction) has passed through these two services operated by Samourai,” the indictment alleges.

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Samourai’s Wallet mobile application was also downloaded over 100,000 times, allowing users to store private keys for BTC addresses they controlled and exchange funds with other Samourai users in anonymous financial transactions.

Icelandic law enforcement has seized Samourai’s domains (samourai[.]io and samouraiwallet[.]com) and web servers, and the Google Play Store removed the Android mobile app after being served a seizure warrant.

Samourai seizure banner
Samourai seizure banner (DOJ)

​Rodriguez was taken into custody this morning and will appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania in the following days.

Hill was also arrested this morning in Portugal on U.S. criminal charges, with the U.S. government planning to request his extradition to the United States so that he can stand trial.

They’re both charged with two counts of conspiracy: money laundering (20-year maximum sentence) and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business (5-year maximum sentence).

“While offering Samourai as a ‘privacy’ service, the defendants knew that it was a haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion,” the DOJ said.

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“Samourai laundered over $100 million of crime proceeds originating from, among other criminal sources, illegal dark web markets, such as Silk Road and Hydra Market; various wire fraud and computer fraud schemes, including a web-server intrusion, a spearphishing scheme, and schemes to defraud multiple decentralized finance protocols; and other illegal

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Ethereum ETFs imminent after amended S-1s (Cryptocurrency:ETH-USD)

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Ethereum ETFs imminent after amended S-1s (Cryptocurrency:ETH-USD)

Liliya Filakhtova

Seven financial firms eyeing exchange-traded funds linked to Ethereum (ETH-USD) amended their S-1 filing on Friday, raising expectations of an imminent launch of the first set of ETFs tied to the second-largest cryptocurrency.

According to the industry publication CryptoSlate, FranklinBLK

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Attorney General warns of cryptocurrency scams at event in The Villages

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Attorney General warns of cryptocurrency scams at event in The Villages
Attorney General Ashley Moody

This week, we hosted a Cryptocurrency Scams Symposium in The Villages and recognized the top Seniors vs. Crime volunteers.

Florida is proud to be home to more than 5.5 million seniors. Unfortunately, there are bad actors who try to prey on older Floridians. Our Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit presented to seniors at the symposium about how to avoid falling victim to cryptocurrency scams.

Protecting Florida’s seniors is one of our top priorities, and we are also grateful for all our Senior Sleuth volunteers’ efforts on behalf of older Floridians.

Last year, Senior Sleuths assisted more than 9,100 Florida seniors, put in more than 11,200 hours of free services and recovered more than $2.6 million. Since 2019, Seniors vs. Crime is responsible for recovering more than $10.5 million.

At the end of the symposium, we named five Super Senior Sleuths, one from each region of Florida for their outstanding work for their fellow seniors.

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We also recognized our Senior Sleuth Advocate of the Year, John McLaughlin. Logging more than 10 years as a Seniors vs. Crime volunteer, John uses his background as a law enforcement officer to assist seniors and solve high-value cases. 

By assisting those who have been taken advantage of and teaching seniors how to protect themselves from scams and exploitation, we are continuing to build a Stronger, Safer Florida.

Ashley Moody is attorney general of Florida.

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Electrocoin launches new cryptocurrency exchange platform, Electrocoin Trade

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Electrocoin launches new cryptocurrency exchange platform, Electrocoin Trade

Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

Croatia’s top crypto exchange, Electrocoin, launches Electrocoin Trade, a crypto exchange platform for EU clients.

One of the biggest cryptocurrency exchange services in Croatia, Electrocoin, has recently launched their new cryptocurrency exchange platform called Electrocoin Trade, providing services for natural and legal clients in the EU.

The platform includes two core services – cryptocurrency exchange and trading service without prior registration to the platform, and cryptocurrency exchange and trading service for registered users. This way, and following the recent regulatory development in the area of crypto regulation, Electrocoin introduced the new custodial model to their service, allowing them to act as a custodian for the assets clients chose to hold on their Electrocoin Trade accounts. By registering with Electrocoin Trade, users get to entrust their cryptocurrencies for safekeeping to a highly regulated platform, as they also get access to additional trading and user experience benefits such as lower trading fees and cryptocurrency portfolio monitoring.

Regardless of the new service, Electrocoin decided to keep the old service as well – any adult citizen in the EU can buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies up to 1000 euros without verification or prior registration on the platform. This way, Electrocoin wanted to ensure their existing and future users had an option where they could still access crypto even if they would rather not register with the new platform. This service is possible due to regulatory approval for KYC-less money exchange under certain thresholds.

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The platform supports cross-chain transfers and coin-to-coin swaps through a variety of protocols, including ERC-20, Polygon, BEP-20, and many more. Furthermore, with the release of the new platform, Electrocoin has also introduced one new service – paying bills with cryptocurrencies. Users of the platform can use their cryptocurrencies to settle any invoice that can be paid by bank transfer within the EU/SEPA zone. That being said, utility bills such as electricity, water, or internet, or even personal expenses such as vehicles or even real estate, can be paid with cryptocurrencies – as long as the payment recipient has a bank account number.

Electrocoin was founded back in 2014 and has since become an industry leader, introducing PayCek, a crypto payment processor, in 2018. and now the new cryptocurrency exchange platform. The company is committed to communication with the regulator and today, they count over 250,000 successful transactions, along with 24/7 available customer support with an average chat response time of one minute. Electrocoin Trade positions itself as a competitor to other top-tier European cryptocurrency exchanges, with the feature enabling the cryptocurrency exchange without prior identification specifically standing out.

To get started, visit the Electrocoin Trade website.

Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. crypto.news does not endorse any product mentioned on this page. Users must do their own research before taking any actions related to the company.

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