According to Blockworks, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an action against the founder and CEO of Samourai Wallet, accusing it of operating as a "cryptocurrency mixing service." Samourai CEO Keonne Rodriguez and CTO William Lonergan Hill were arrested on Wednesday. The wallet startup, founded in 2015, offers a range of privacy-enhancing features designed to obfuscate the source of funds, and prosecutors say these tools facilitated criminal activity. The Department of Justice accused Samourai Wallet of illegally executing more than $2 billion in transactions and "laundering more than $100 million in criminal proceeds."

Hill was arrested in Portugal and US authorities are seeking his extradition. Rodriguez was arrested in the US and is due to face a judge on Wednesday or Thursday. "In coordination with Icelandic law enforcement, Samourai's web servers and domains were seized," the Justice Department said. The domain now leads to a page notifying visitors that it was seized as part of the seizure order.

The Justice Department alleges that Hill and Rodriguez "knowingly" and knowingly "that the majority of funds handled by Samourai were proceeds of crime, which were being concealed through Samourai." Official accounts on X (formerly Twitter) "encouraged" users to "launder money" through the wallet. The two were formally charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.