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Samurai Wallet Developer Keonne Rodriguez Sentenced to Maximum Penalty for Cryptocurrency Offense
Keonne Rodriguez, a developer of Samourai Wallet, was sentenced to the maximum of 5 years in prison for his involvement in a digital asset scheme on Thursday.
Keonne Rodriguez Receives Five-Year Sentence
As reported by Inner City Press journalist Matthew Russell Lee, Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York imposed a 60-month federal prison sentence on Rodriguez, followed by three years of supervised release.
Rodriguez: I apologize and will never violate the law again.
Judge Cote: The letter suggested you were operating with moral blinders. You may show kindness to strangers – but if they are harmed, you opted to utilize your significant skills to complicate recovery.— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) November 6, 2025
According to Inner City Press, the Bitcoin wallet developer has also been mandated to pay $250,000, which represents 20% of his gross monthly earnings.
Rodriguez will remain free on bail until his scheduled prison surrender date on December 19.
“I apologize and will never violate the law again,” the media outlet cites Rodriguez as stating.
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Samourai Wallet Developers Face The Music
The news of Rodriguez’s sentencing follows just months after he and fellow Samourai Wallet developer William Lonergan Hill entered guilty pleas to a charge of conspiracy to operate a money transmitting business.
Federal prosecutors claimed that the crypto application developers effectively transmitted proceeds from criminal activities such as phishing schemes and dark web markets to defraud multiple DeFi protocols, according to an August 2025 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In total, Hill and Lonergan admitted to launching the Bitcoin wallet, which the U.S. government asserts laundered over $200 million in illegal transactions.
The Bitcoin wallet developers ultimately consented to forfeit more than an astonishing $237 million as part of their guilty plea.
“Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill’s guilty pleas demonstrate that their cryptocurrency mixing service–Samourai Wallet–was intended to obscure criminal financial transactions and launder millions of dollars of illicit funds,” stated FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia.
“The FBI is dedicated to ensuring that anyone who employs technological advancements to facilitate illegal activities is brought to justice,” he added.
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