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Trump considers another controversial crypto pardon
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider a pardon for Keonne Rodriguez, the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison last month for money laundering charges.
During a press briefing on Dec. 15, a reporter asked Trump about the case, to which Trump replied. When the reporter responded that many in the crypto community were calling for clemency, Trump added his thoughts on the matter.
DOJ sentenced Samourai founders for laundering $237M
According to a Nov. 19, 2025, press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill - Samourai’s CTO - were convicted for operating a cryptocurrency mixing service that facilitated more than $237 million in criminal proceeds.
“RODRIGUEZ, the Chief Executive Officer of Samourai, and HILL, the Chief Technology Officer, participated in a conspiracy to operate a money transmitting business in which they knowingly transmitted criminal proceeds,” the DOJ said.
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The department alleged that the platform’s Bitcoin-mixing service “Whirlpool” and transaction-obfuscation tool “Ricochet” were engineered to conceal the origins of illicit funds tied to drug trafficking, darknet marketplaces, cyber-intrusions, fraud, sanctioned jurisdictions, murder-for-hire schemes, and a child pornography website.
“Money laundering for Bitcoin”
Court filings cited by the DOJ revealed that Rodriguez and Hill were aware of their users’ activities. In internal messages, Rodriguez allegedly described “mixing” as “money laundering for bitcoin.”
The government said the two promoted Samourai to darknet users and even encouraged hackers in 2020 to “feed” stolen crypto through its mixing tool Whirlpool. When the hackers chose a competing service, Rodriguez and Hill “expressed their disappointment.”
Rodriguez, 37, of Pennsylvania, was sentenced to five years in prison, while Hill received four years. Both were fined $250,000 and ordered to forfeit $6.37 million in profits.
Trump’s 2025 pardons
Trump has issued a wave of high-profile pardons in 2025, including around 1,500 individuals involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The move, announced on Jan. 20, fulfilled a campaign pledge to supporters he said had faced “a grave national injustice.”
Among the most notable clemencies were former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program, and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, sentenced to life for operating the darknet marketplace. Trump also pardoned BitMEX co-founders, convicted for unregistered trading and AML breaches.
The president extended clemency to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and ex-NYPD Sergeant Michael McMahon, alongside several business and political figures.
This article has been published in [TheStreet] via Yahoo News.
Trump considers another controversial crypto pardon
U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider a pardon for Keonne Rodriguez, the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai, who was sentenced to five years in federal prison last month for money laundering charges. During a press briefing on Dec. 15, a reporter asked Trump about the...
finance.yahoo.com
