Arrested Samourai Wallet co-founder released on bail, plans to appeal charges

adminJuly 7, 2024

William Lonergan Hill, who was arrested in April along with Samurai Wallet co-founder Kion Rodriguez on charges of money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transfer business, has been granted bail by the U.S. government, although the specific terms have not yet been determined.

According to a recent letter from Hill’s attorney, the parties have agreed to post bail for Hill, but disagree on where his time should be spent. The attorney argues that the 65-year-old developer, who grew up in Brooklyn and moved to Paris and Portugal, should be allowed to stay in Portugal with his wife. According to the documents, which were first discovered by The Rage, Justice Department prosecutors would prefer that Hill stay in his sister’s basement in Brooklyn.

Rodriguez has already pleaded not guilty to two charges and is free on $1 million bail, but the letter says Hill’s “very robust bail package” consists of at least $3 million in assets. If the court agreed to release Hill to Portugal, that package would increase to about $4.4 million with a pledge from his wife and family, “…all of whom have staked their financial futures on his compliance with the terms of his bail,” the letter says.

Hill plans to contest the charges.

According to the letter, Hill, like his co-founder, plans to contest the charges. Hill’s attorney noted that the actual trial may not take place until “well into 2025” because the evidence in the case is expected to be extensive and there is a lot of pretrial action expected.

Hill’s attorneys laid out several arguments in support of Hill in the letter, ranging from legal analysis to memoranda of support from prominent figures, which could provide a preview of the defense’s arguments in the upcoming case.

In one interesting argument, Hill’s attorneys point out that Samourai Wallet was available on the Google app store from its launch in May 2015 until April 2024, and that Google delisted the app after the two co-founders were arrested. If Samourai Wallet was intended as a money laundering service, then by the government’s logic, Google would be complicit in providing the app to an estimated 4 billion Android users worldwide.

The defense also argues that the money laundering conspiracy charge hinges on the allegation that Samourai Wallet was an unlicensed money transmitter, contrary to FinCEN’s guidance at the time. “If Samourai Wallet was not a money transmitter, it would not have had an obligation to prevent money laundering under the (Bank Secrecy Act),” the letter states.

Also included in the submission is a bipartisan letter from Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden arguing to Attorney General Merrick Garland that “treating non-custodial crypto-asset software developers as unregistered money transmitters and thus subjecting them to potential criminal liability runs counter to established interpretations of (the FinCEN guidance), stifles innovation, and undermines confidence in the Department of Justice’s respect for the rule of law.”

According to the letter, Hill is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal district court for the Southern District of New York on July 9 or 10.

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adminJuly 7, 2024