US Court Sentences William Lonergan Hill to Four Years as Part of High-Profile Crypto Mixing Prosecution

A Privacy Tool Built For Anonymity Ends With A Prison Term

What began as a bid to build an ultra-private bitcoin wallet has ended with one of its creators receiving a four-year prison term, closing a case that has stirred debate over whether developers of open-source privacy tools can be held liable for how users behave.

The prosecution argued the software became a magnet for criminals seeking to hide illicit funds, while supporters say the case risks blurring the lines between writing code and facilitating crime.

How Prosecutors Linked Samourai Wallet To Criminal Funds

William Lonergan Hill, the 67-year-old co-founder and former chief technology officer of Samourai Wallet, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan after pleading guilty in July to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

The plea deal removed a broader money-laundering conspiracy charge but still exposed him to a maximum five-year term.

Prosecutors said Samourai’s privacy tools, including Whirlpool and Ricochet, helped “wash millions in dirty money” and were positioned in ways that made them attractive to criminals.

Authorities contend that as much as $237 million in transactions linked to illicit activity moved through the platform.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos said the prison terms imposed on Hill and his co-founder, Keonne Rodriguez, “send a clear message that laundering known criminal proceeds — regardless of the technology used or whether the proceeds are in the form of fiat or cryptocurrency — will face serious consequences.”

Why The Sentences Differed Between The Two Founders

Rodriguez, 37, who served as chief executive, received the full five-year sentence on 06 November.

Hill received a year less after the judge considered his age and a recent autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.

Hill apologised directly, telling the court,

“I pled guilty because I am guilty. I am deeply remorseful and ashamed of what I did.”

Judge Cote said the offence was “very serious,” adding, “there are countless victims whose names he will never know who were hurt by what he did.”

Both men were given three years of supervised release and must pay a fine of $250,000 each.

They have already contributed more than $6.3 million towards forfeitures.

A separate plea agreement mentions a joint forfeiture amount of $237 million and a $400,000 fine tied to the broader case.

Should Developers Be Held Responsible For User Misconduct?

The prosecution’s stance is that Samourai was built and operated “as a service for transmitting criminal proceeds,” and that the founders were aware the wallet was being used to hide funds.

Developers and privacy advocates disagree, pointing to what they view as a worrying precedent.

The debate intensified after Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm was charged in 2023; he was later convicted solely for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business after a jury failed to reach a verdict on money-laundering and sanctions-violation counts.

During that case, acting assistant attorney general Matthew J Galeotti said that “writing code” is not a crime.

Advocacy groups have since rallied around developers, raising legal funds and urging U.S. lawmakers to draw clearer boundaries as the industry evolves.

What The Judge Considered Before Issuing The Sentence

Hill’s defence asked for time served, citing his detention in Portugal during extradition proceedings and arguing that imprisonment would be harder for him due to his autism.

They also referenced recent pardons issued by President Donald Trump for high-profile crypto figures, including Ross Ulbricht and Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng, to argue for leniency.

The Probation Office recommended about 42 months, while prosecutors pushed for more.

Judge Cote settled on 48 months.

Hill must self-surrender by 02 January 2026 to begin his sentence, after which he hopes to return to Lisbon for what his lawyers described as a “quiet retirement” with his wife of 34 years.

Where This Case Fits In A Changing Enforcement Landscape

The Samourai prosecution is one of the few crypto cases that advanced under the Trump administration, even as the Justice Department recently adopted stricter internal thresholds for taking action against mixers and similar services.

Mixing tools remain under close scrutiny because they can obscure the source and destination of funds on public blockchains — a feature widely used by criminals but also by ordinary users seeking financial privacy.

As policymakers weigh how far liability should extend, this case has become a reference point in an ongoing battle over privacy, responsibility, and the role of open-source developers in the digital asset ecosystem.