The co-founders of cryptocurrency mixer Samourai Wallet have been arrested on money laundering charges brought by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and other agencies.

Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill face charges each of committing money laundering, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 20 years, and engaging in unlicensed money transfer, which could result in a prison sentence of up to 5 years.

Rodriguez was arrested in Pennsylvania on the morning of April 24, and Hill was arrested the same day in Portugal. The United States will seek Hill's extradition, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The company's servers and domain were also seized in Iceland, and an order was issued to stop downloads of the company's app from the Google Play Store. The app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times.

The US Government has become increasingly aggressive against crypto mixers. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Blender.io in May 2022 after the Axie Infinity hack. In October 2022, OFAC added addresses associated with the Tornado Cash mixer to its Specially Designated National list, effectively banning U.S. citizens from using the service. That decision survived a court challenge. The three co-founders of Tornado Cash have been arrested until August 2023.

In October 2023, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network recommended designating crypto mixers as a "primary money laundering concern" following the Hamas attack on Israel.

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