US authorities are going to confiscate $400 million from the creator of the cryptomixer Helix, 2026/01/30 11:01:32

A District of Columbia court has ruled to alienate $400 million in cryptocurrencies, real estate and monetary assets from the creator of the Helix cryptomixer, Larry Dean Harmon. These assets should be considered confiscated to the state.

According to the US Department of Justice, from 2014 to 2017, Helix processed transactions for 354,468 bitcoins, which were then valued at more than $300 million. Much of this cryptocurrency went to the darknet, where you can anonymously purchase illegal products and services, and Harmon took fees for making transactions, prosecutors allege. According to court documents, Helix was used to hide traces of cryptocurrency transactions, so the service was in high demand among drug traffickers seeking to launder ill-gotten gains.

In August 2021, Harmon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, and in November 2024 he received 36 months in prison plus three years of probation. Harmon developed Helix and the darknet search engine Grams to connect to darknet sites operating at the time. Using an application programming interface (API), Helix made it possible to integrate the service directly into darknet systems for withdrawing bitcoins. Investigators were able to track tens of millions of dollars transferred from darknet marketplaces to Helix.

In 2020, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) fined Harmon $60 million for money laundering. FinCEN alleged that in addition to promoting Helix on darknet sites, Harmon operated the unregistered Coin Ninja service and intentionally failed to provide regulators with financial reporting on suspicious transactions.

In 2021, the US Department of Justice formed the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which is searching for platforms through which money in cryptocurrencies can be laundered.