Samourai Wallet
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anchored·EN1AXu…SWqySummary
Samourai Wallet was a privacy-focused, non-custodial Bitcoin wallet developed since 2015 that offered CoinJoin mixing (Whirlpool), transaction obfuscation (Ricochet), and self-hosted node support (Dojo). In April 2024, co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill were arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to commit money laundering; both pleaded guilty in July 2025 and were sentenced to five and four years in federal prison respectively in November 2025. The case generated significant legal controversy, including a Brady disclosure revealing that FinCEN had told prosecutors before the indictment that Samourai did not qualify as a money transmitter, and a subsequent DOJ policy memo directing prosecutors to stop targeting non-custodial wallet developers.
Connected Entities
1 entities- + 4 more
Timeline(14 events)
2015
Samourai Wallet first released as an open-source, privacy-focused Android Bitcoin wallet by Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.
Wikipedia / CoinDesk25 June 2019
Samourai Wallet releases the Whirlpool CoinJoin feature, a Chaumian CoinJoin implementation for Bitcoin transaction privacy.
CoinDeskAugust 2023
DOJ prosecutors contact FinCEN to ask whether Samourai Wallet qualifies as a money transmitter. FinCEN responds that it does not, given the non-custodial nature of the product. This communication is not disclosed to defense counsel at the time of indictment.
CoinDesk / Bitcoin Policy Institute24 April 2024
DOJ SDNY announces the arrest of Keonne Rodriguez in Pennsylvania and William Lonergan Hill in Portugal (for extradition) on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Samourai's servers in Iceland and its primary domain are seized; Google Play Store is served a seizure warrant.
DOJ SDNY Press Release29 April 2024
Keonne Rodriguez arraigned in the Southern District of New York, pleads not guilty, and is released on a $1 million bond.
CoinDesk20 September 2024
An anonymous developer group announces Ashigaru, a hard fork of the Samourai Wallet codebase, removing centralized coordinator infrastructure and replacing it with mandatory self-hosted Dojo nodes.
BeInCrypto / CoinTelegraphApril 2025
DOJ prosecutors disclose to defense counsel — in response to a Brady request — the August 2023 FinCEN communication stating Samourai Wallet was not a money transmitter.
CoinDesk7 April 2025
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issues the 'Ending Regulation by Prosecution' memo, directing DOJ to stop targeting crypto mixing and tumbling services for end-user conduct and to avoid charges unless a defendant willfully ignored a clear licensing duty.
Bitcoin Policy Institute / CoinTelegraph5 May 2025
Defense attorneys file a letter to Judge Richard Berman characterizing the delayed FinCEN disclosure as a Brady violation and calling for dismissal of the case.
CoinDesk9 May 2025
Prosecutors respond to Brady allegations, arguing the FinCEN disclosure was timely and that the communication was merely an 'informal and caveated opinion.'
CoinDesk30 July 2025
Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill each plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The money laundering conspiracy count is dropped as part of the plea agreements.
CoinDesk6 November 2025
Keonne Rodriguez sentenced to 60 months (five years) in federal prison and fined $250,000 for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.
CoinDesk / DOJ SDNY19 November 2025
William Lonergan Hill sentenced to 48 months (four years) in federal prison. Judge Denise Cote cites Hill's autism diagnosis and age as mitigating factors reducing the sentence below the 60-month statutory maximum.
CoinDesk24 March 2026
Security researchers report that the former samouraiwallet.com domain, originally seized by the FBI, has been hijacked by malicious actors and is being used to distribute Bitcoin phishing attacks and malware targeting wallet credentials.
CryptoTimes / CoinAlertNewsDecision Log
- hash: 22ELAjCe5VqSeiJ1mrLAcXb4xJoZUxUJ8aY5hfNabLcx
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 16 of 17 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/31/2026, 6:59:53 AM
last updated: 7/26/2026, 4:53:38 AM
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