Overview
- Asked in the Oval Office about clemency, President Trump said, “I’ve heard about it, I’ll look at it,” and, according to reporters, directed the attorney general to examine the matter.
- Keonne Rodriguez is scheduled to report to federal prison on Friday, December 18, after receiving a five-year sentence on November 19; co-founder William Hill received four years.
- Rodriguez and Hill pleaded guilty in July to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, with more serious money-laundering charges not pursued under the plea deal.
- The Department of Justice has alleged Samourai’s privacy tools moved billions of dollars in transactions and processed funds tied to darknet markets as part of a broader focus on mixing services.
- Privacy advocates say the case has chilled development of crypto privacy software, and Trump’s review follows his pardons this year of Changpeng Zhao and Ross Ulbricht.