Samourai Wallet says feds hid advice that crypto mixer was in the clear

By: bitcoin ethereum news|2025/05/07 00:30:04
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Samourai Wallet’s lawyers allege federal prosecutors suppressed advice that the firm didn’t need a license before they charged executives at the crypto mixing service months later. In a May 5 letter to a Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Samourai co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill said prosecutors disclosed that the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) representatives told them six months before they charged the pair “that under FinCEN’s guidance, the Samourai Wallet app would not qualify as a ‘Money Services Business’ requiring a FinCEN license.” “Shockingly, six months later, the same prosecutors criminally charged Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill with operating just such a business without a FinCEN license,” the lawyers added. The letter claimed that prosecutors were required to share their discussions with FinCEN over Samourai two weeks after they unsealed charges, making the deadline May 8 last year, but instead “suppressed this information for over a year, disclosing it only on April 1, 2025.” Prosecutors charged Samourai CEO Rodriguez and its technology chief Hill with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy in February 2024, unsealing the charges and arresting the pair in April that year. Samourai’s mixing service took crypto from multiple users and blended it together to hide its origins. The government alleged the platform helped with over $2 billion in illegal transactions and facilitated over $100 million worth of money laundering transactions from online black markets and scammers. Rodriguez and Hill both pleaded not guilty. In the letter, their lawyers said prosecutors shared details of a call with Kevin O’Connor, chief of FinCEN’s Virtual Assets and Emerging Technology Section in the Enforcement and Compliance Division, and Policy Division staffer Lorena Valente. According to an email from one of the prosecutors summarizing the call, FinCEN said that “because Samourai does not take ‘custody’ of the cryptocurrency by possessing the private keys to any addresses where the cryptocurrency is stored, that would strongly suggest that Samourai is NOT acting as an MSB [money services business].” The email said O’Connor and Valente agreed that the government could try to argue that Samourai functionally controlled the crypto, “but that has never been addressed in the guidance, and so it could be a difficult argument” for prosecutors. Samourai’s lawyers asked the court for a hearing “to determine the circumstances surrounding the Government’s late disclosure” and to administer a remedy. Samourai to renew dismissal bid if case goes on Rodriguez and Hill’s lawyers said that, using this latest information, they would again ask for the charges to be dismissed, arguing they lacked fair notice and “understood they were acting lawfully.” Related: US Treasury’s OFAC can’t restore Tornado Cash sanctions, judge rules Prosecutors and Samourai asked the court for more time on April 28 to consider potentially dismissing the case after the Justice Department rolled back its crypto enforcement. Rodriguez and Hill bid to dismiss the case in early April, arguing it should be dropped as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in an April 7 memo that the Justice Department wouldn’t prosecute crypto mixers for “unwitting violations of regulations.” In the latest letter, their lawyers said if the government “were to resist the Blanche Memo’s directive and push forward,” then they would bid to dismiss as “if they were not money transmitters under FinCEN’s guidance, then they could not possibly be prosecuted for not having a license.” Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0 — The race to build safe and legal coin mixers Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/samourai-wallet-feds-hid-advice-crypto-mixer-didnt-need-license?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound

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WEEX P2P update: Country/region restrictions for ad posting

To improve ad security and matching accuracy, WEEX P2P now allows advertisers to restrict who can trade with their ads based on country or region. Advertisers can select preferred counterparty locations for a safer, smoother trading experience.

 

I. Overview

When publishing P2P ads, advertisers can now set the following:

Allow only counterparties from selected countries or regions to trade with your ads.

With this feature, you can:

Target specific user groups more precisely.Reduce cross-region trading risks.Improve order matching quality.

 

II. Applicable scenarios

The following are some common scenarios:

Restrict payment methods: Limit orders to users in your country using supported local banks or wallets.Risk control: Avoid trading with users from high-risk regions.Operational strategy: Tailor ads to specific markets.

 

III. How to get started

On the ad posting page, find "Trading requirements":

Select "Trade with users from selected countries or regions only".Then select the countries or regions to add to the allowlist.Use the search box to quickly find a country or region.Once your settings are complete, submit the ad to apply the restrictions.

 

When an advertiser enables the "Country/Region Restriction" feature, users who do not meet the criteria will be blocked when placing an order and will see the following prompt:

If you encounter this issue when placing an order as a regular user, try the following solutions.

Choose another ad: Select ads that do not restrict your country/region, or ads that allow users from your location.Show local ads only: Prioritize ads available in the same country as your identity verification.

 

IV. Benefits

Compared with ads without country/region restrictions, this feature provides the following improvements.

Aspect

Improvement

Trading security

Reduces abnormal orders and fraud risk

Conversion efficiency

Matches ads with more relevant users

Order completion rate

Reduces failures caused by incompatible payment methods

V. FAQ

Q1: Why are some users not able to place orders on my ad?
A1: Their country or region may not be included in your allowlist.

 

Q2: Can I select multiple countries or regions when setting the restriction?
A2: Yes, multiple selections are supported.

 

Q3: Can I edit my published ads?
A3: Yes. You can edit your ad in the "My Ads" list. Changes will take effect immediately after saving.

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