{"id":11187,"date":"2021-08-18T19:54:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/founder-of-the-bitcoin-mixer-helix-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering-charges\/"},"modified":"2021-08-18T19:54:24","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T19:54:24","slug":"founder-of-the-bitcoin-mixer-helix-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/founder-of-the-bitcoin-mixer-helix-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Founder of the Bitcoin Mixer Helix Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Larry Dean Harmon, founder and operator of the bitcoin mixing service Helix has pleaded guilty on Wednesday to money laundering charges. Harmon\u2019s guilty plea follows the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) fining Harmon $60 million last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Helix Operator Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering, Conspiracy Charges<\/h2>\n

According to several reports and a court-issued plea<\/a>, Ohio resident Larry Harmon<\/a> (38) pled guilty in a D.C. federal court on Wednesday for money laundering and conspiracy charges. Harmon detailed in court that he plans to cooperate with federal authorities after being accused of operating the bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) mixing service called Helix from 2014 to 2017.<\/p>\n

U.S. prosecutors said that more than $300 million in bitcoin was transferred into Helix and sent out in an anonymous fashion. However, Charles Flood, the defense attorney for Harmon claims that the operator used a \u201cdouble-blind system\u201d so he was fully unaware of how much BTC<\/a> was funneled through Helix.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne interesting thing about this case is there was a double-blind system Harmon had set up with Helix,\u201d Flood said<\/a> in the federal courtroom on Wednesday. \u201cWhile he completely acknowledges that he violated the law and was in fact laundering money and knew it was drug proceeds \u2026 he does not know the exact amount laundered,\u201d Flood added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sole Purpose of Bitcoin Mixer Was to Conceal Criminal Transactions, Feds Aim to Seize 3 Properties<\/h2>\n

In a U.S. Justice Department press release<\/a> issued on February 13, 2020, Don Fort, chief of IRS Criminal Investigation explained that it was Harmon\u2019s intent to obfuscate funds. \u201cThe sole purpose of Harmon\u2019s operation was to conceal criminal transactions from law enforcement on the Darknet, and because of our growing expertise in this area, he could not make good on that promise,\u201d Fort remarked at the time.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government is seeking the forfeiture of three specific properties Harmon owns in Ohio. The court-issued plea explains the federal government wants Harmon\u2019s two properties in Akron, Ohio, and the property he owns in Aurora, Colorado as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the goal of the conspiracy for the defendant. Harmon, and other co-conspirators to unlawfully enrich themselves by operating a bitcoin money-laundering service which would conceal and promote illegal Darknet drug sales and other illegal activity,\u201d the Justice Department\u2019s paperwork notes.<\/p>\n

Harmon also pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges that are tethered to the former darknet marketplace giant Alphabay<\/a>. On or about November 8, 2016, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent working undercover \u201ctransferred 0.16 bitcoin from an Alphabay bitcoin wallet to Helix.\u201d The agent then exchanged the BTC<\/a> in a manner so it was not \u201cdirectly traceable to Alphabay,\u201d the court statement notes.<\/p>\n

What do you think about the Helix founder and operator pleading guilty to money laundering and conspiracy charges for his bitcoin mixing service? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bitcoin News
\nNews, Alphabay, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Mixer, Bitcoin Mixing, Charles Flood, darknet marketplace, defense attorney, Don Fort, FBI, Guilty, Helix, IRS, Justice Dep., Larry Dean Harmon, Larry Harmon, mixing bitcoin, Ohio, Pleads Guilty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Larry Dean Harmon, founder and operator of the bitcoin mixing service Helix has pleaded guilty on Wednesday to money laundering charges. Harmon\u2019s guilty plea follows the U.S. Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) fining Harmon $60 million last year. Helix Operator Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering, Conspiracy Charges According to several reports and a court-issued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blockchain-news","category-coin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buyucoin.com\/crypto-labs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}