Samourai Wallet founder Keonne Rodriguez, who was arrested in April on charges of operating an unlicensed money transmitter, was denied changes to his bail conditions during a hearing in a Southern District of New York court on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Rodriguez's defense were seeking two modifications to his bail: removal of a home detention mandate and looser restrictions on his ability to transact with cryptocurrencies, in part to pay for his legal fees.
However, prosecutors successfully argued that Rodriguez should be deemed a flight risk given the serious nature of his crime, the potentially lengthy sentence if found guilty and handwritten notes allegedly detailing an escape plan.
Rodriguez, who served as product lead at Blockchain.com before working on Samourai, and co-founder William Lonergan Hill, former CTO at Soie LLC., face money laundering charges in connection with the creation of the Samourai Wallet, a bitcoin-focused app that contained a privacy-preserving mixing tool to conceal user's identities. Prosecutors allege over $2 billion in unlawful transactions were facilitated by the non-custodial Samourai Wallet.
The case has grown to become something of a cause celebre for many Bitcoin BTC
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advocates, who see the arrest of the two developers after nearly a decade in operation as government overreach. In particular, legal experts have raised concerns that a negative ruling for Rodriguez and Hill could set a precedent for authorities to go after any non-custodial software.
In May, Senators Cynthia Lummis (R–Wyo.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote a letter expressing concerns over the Department of Justice’s “unprecedented interpretation” of a statute expanding prohibitions against “unlicensed money transmitting businesses” given the risks possessed to “crypto asset software services” and the lack of “clear intent” from Congress.
“Consequently, non-custodial crypto service providers cannot be classified as money transmitter businesses because users of such services retain sole possession and control of their crypto assets,” the senators wrote. Lummis and Wyden stress that developers of autonomous software shouldn’t be held accountable for how those tools are used.
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This is essentially the argument of Rodriguez's counsel, who told the court on Tuesday that the defendant doesn’t think he committed a crime. Rodriguez and Hill each face a maximum prison sentence of 25 years for their money laundering and transmission charges.
A similar issue is being taken up in the ongoing case against Tornado Cash co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semanov, who helped build and market the Ethereum-based decentralized token tumbler. U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Polk Failla is hearing evidence about whether founders must maintain “control” of users' crypto assets to be deemed money transmitters.
An earlier ruling involving Tornado Cash co-founder Alexey Pertsev in a Dutch court found him liable for money laundering despite the autonomous nature of the protocol. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Fog creator Roman Sterlingov was convicted in April on similar charges.
Tuesday represented the first time Rodriguez and Hill have appeared in court together since being detained. The next trial date is set for Dec. 16.
In 2015, around the time of the launch of Samourai, Rodriguez tweeted, “Bitcoin isn't about buying a latte with your mobile phone, it is about making the transactions that they say you can't make.”
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