An Ohio man guilty of Bitcoin laundering must forfeit over $400 million in assets

An Ohio man named Larry Dean Harmon will serve three years in jail and forfeit greater than $400 million value of cryptocurrency and different property, the Division of Justice announced on Friday. Harmon was indicted in 2020 on cash laundering conspiracy costs associated to Helix, a darkweb cryptocurrency “mixer” service he ran.

Also referred to as crypto “tumbling,” providers like Helix are designed to cover cryptocurrency transactions — typically for unlawful medicine — and the identification of individuals concerned. From 2014 to 2017, Harmon processed greater than 350,000 Bitcoin (about $311 million USD on the time) in such transactions, in keeping with the DOJ’s announcement.

Harmon, who pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit cash laundering in August 2021, can be on the hook for 3 years of supervised launch after serving his jail sentence. He additionally obtained a $311,145,854 forfeiture cash judgment.

He confronted a attainable 20 years in jail, however the decide within the case gave him a extra lenient sentence after he helped with a number of different investigations, as The Wall Street Journal notes. That reportedly included his testimony within the trial of Roman Sterlingov, who ran one other crypto mixer referred to as Bitcoin Fog.