Yes, you read the headline right. Not $350,000 worth of Bitcoin, but an astonishing 350,000 Bitcoins.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that an Ohio resident, Larry Dean Harmon, pleaded guilty to money laundering through the use of Helix, a Dark Web cryptocurrency laundering service.
Harmon admitted to working as a Bitcoin "mixer" or "tumbler," charging fees to send Bitcoin to others in a way that would hide the owner of the cryptocurrency. He would advertise Helix on the Dark Web in an attempt to conceal his transactions from law enforcement.
Court documents say that Helix was associated with "Grams," which is a Dark Web search engine also operated by Harmon.
Cybercriminal mixes millions of dollars in cryptocurrency
Harmon says he operated Helix between 2014 and 2017. At the time, the amount of Bitcoin he laundered was worth more than $300 million. That amount of Bitcoin today would be worth approximately $16.2 billion.
Here is how the DOJ describes his crimes:
"Harmon admitted that Helix partnered with several Darknet markets, including AlphaBay, Evolution, Cloud 9 and others, to provide bitcoin money laundering services for market customers. In total, Helix moved over 350,000 bitcoin—valued at over $300 million at the time of the transactions—on behalf of customers, with the largest volume coming from Darknet markets.
Harmon further admitted that he conspired with Darknet vendors and marketplace administrators to launder such bitcoins generated through illegal drug trafficking offenses on those Darknet marketplaces."
And here are the penalties he will face:
"As part of his plea, Harmon also agreed to the forfeiture of more than 4,400 bitcoin, valued at more than $200 million at today's prices, and other seized properties that were involved in the money laundering conspiracy. Harmon will be sentenced at a date to be determined and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, a term of supervised release of not more than three years, and mandatory restitution."
Chief James C. Lee of the IRS Criminal Investigation comments on the situation:
"The Darknet is driven in part by the criminal marketplaces which peddle their nefarious goods and services. But these marketplaces thrive in large measure because of the infrastructure that supports them. Harmon profited by facilitating the back-channel support of these marketplaces and helped criminals launder money they received via illicit activities. He then hid those funds from the government. He admitted his role today in these activities and will now be held accountable."
The DOJ notes the IRS's Cyber Crimes Unit and the FBI's Washington Field Office played an integral role in brining down Harmon. It also says the investigation was coordinated with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which assessed a $60 million civil monetary penalty against Harmon in a parallel action.
For more information on this Bitcoin laundering case, see the statement from the DOJ.
