US Prosecutors Seek Maximum Five-Year Prison Term for Samourai Wallet Founders

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NEW YORK, Nov 2025 – U.S. prosecutors have asked a New York federal judge to impose the maximum five-year prison term on the founders of privacy-focused crypto app Samourai Wallet, in what is shaping up to be a landmark Samourai Wallet founders sentencing case. Authorities say the service was used to launder millions of dollars in criminal proceeds.

The sentencing request has drawn broad attention across the digital asset sector, viewed as a key test of how far U.S. authorities can hold software developers accountable for tools that enable anonymity in online finance.

Prosecutors told the Southern District of New York that co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill should each receive the full sentence allowed under federal law for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Both men pleaded guilty in July after being arrested in April, court filings show. A separate charge of money laundering conspiracy, which carried a potential 20-year sentence, was dropped under their plea deal. Sentencing is scheduled for November 6 for Rodriguez and November 7 for Hill before Judge Katherine Polk Failla.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 U.S. government seeks maximum 5-year sentence for Samourai Wallet developers

This isn’t right. Code is speech.

Chilling precedent for open-source devs pic.twitter.com/eN0am3fVnX

— Bitcoin Archive (@BTC_Archive) November 3, 2025

According to the government, Samourai was built “to help criminals move money out of sight.” Investigators said its Whirlpool and Ricochet tools enabled users to obscure the origin of bitcoin, hindering blockchain tracing. The filing said Samourai processed more than $2 billion worth of bitcoin from 2015 through early 2024, including about $200 million tied to darknet markets such as Hydra and Silk Road.

Encrypted messages cited in the filing show the founders describing the wallet as a way to “clean dirty BTC.” Prosecutors said they collected fees on those transfers, effectively running an unlicensed exchange. “The defendants did not innovate privacy,” the government wrote. “They monetized criminal anonymity.”

Defense attorneys have asked for lighter sentences, arguing that Samourai was a non-custodial, open-source wallet designed for legitimate privacy and that it never held user funds. “The defendants built tools, not laundering machines,” one lawyer wrote. They warned that punishing developers for how users deploy code would set “a dangerous precedent” and stifle innovation in privacy software.

The case has reignited debate over how regulators should treat privacy-enhancing technology. Legal analysts say the verdict could influence how similar wallets are classified under U.S. money-service laws. One Washington policy adviser said the outcome will determine “whether developers can be held criminally liable for code alone.”

Privacy advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argue that the prosecution threatens digital rights. The group said in a statement that criminalizing privacy tools “will drive developers overseas and weaken lawful protections for users.”

Others in the compliance sector take the opposite view. “If a product is built to defeat oversight, the Justice Department will treat it as complicity,” said a former DOJ cybercrime prosecutor who now advises fintech firms.

The Justice Department, IRS Criminal Investigation Cyber Unit, and FBI led the investigation. Both founders face up to five years in prison and possible asset forfeiture tied to Samourai’s operations. Analysts expect the verdict to clarify how U.S. law distinguishes between privacy technology and illegal financial services, shaping future enforcement of crypto-mixing tools.

The decision is likely to reverberate beyond the courtroom, with developers and compliance teams across the crypto industry watching closely to see whether the court defines a clear boundary between privacy software and money-laundering platforms. Read more on Ethereum price forecasts and 2025 market outlook.

Key Points

• Prosecutors seek maximum five-year sentences for Samurai founders
• Both pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business
• Samourai allegedly processed more than $2 billion in bitcoin, including illicit funds
• Case seen as a key precedent for privacy wallets and developer accountability