NEW YORK – William “Bill” Hill, 67, one of the co-founders of Bitcoin mixer Samourai Wallet, was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday for his role in creating the privacy tool that prosecutors say was used to launder at least $237 million in criminal proceeds.
District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), who recently sentenced Hill’s fellow Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez to the statutory maximum of five years in prison for the same crime (conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business, to which both men pleaded guilty in July) said she was “varying” Hill’s sentence due to several mitigating factors, including Hill’s recent autism diagnosis and his advanced age.
“I accept that it will be a more difficult time for the defendant to be in prison than for many other people,” Cote said. “Otherwise, I would be sentenced to 60 months.”
Hill’s attorney, Roger Burlingame of Dechert LLP, spent a considerable portion of Wednesday’s hearing detailing how Hill’s autism was the explanation (or, as Burlingame put it, “the key that unlocks the riddle”) for Hill’s behavior.
Bitcoin, Burlingame said, was “like catnip” to a black-and-white thinker like Hill, who was drawn to the “idealism and absolutism” of blockchain technology, the “noble purpose… of defending against an invading government, an Orwellian dystopia,” and a built-in community of fellow bitcoin enthusiasts, something he said Hill “had never had before in his entire life.”
Hill’s attorney also said his autism explained why he thought what he was doing with Samourai Wallet was legal. Because the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) did not require non-custodial wallets to register as money transmitting companies, Burlingame said Hill acted as if he had a “force field” around his actions, adding that Hill had come to see this as a “pathetically naive view… an autistic magical-thinking view of the world.”
Burlingame asked that Hill be sentenced to time served, adding that his three-month stay in a Portuguese prison last year was enough punishment to deter him from breaking the law again.
“Prison is extraordinarily hard for him given his extreme sensitivity,” Burlingame said, adding that the forced socialization of being in prison is “torture” for Hill.
As Burlingame spoke, Cote interjected several times to ask if Hill understood that what he had done was morally wrong, not just illegal.
“There’s a way to argue that no laws were broken, but that’s simply not true,” Cote said. “I completely reject that the defendant does not know the difference between right and wrong, or that his autism has prevented him from living a moral life.”
When it was Hill’s turn to address the judge, he was visibly emotional as he spoke about the negative impact his prosecution had had on his wife, Sabrina, and their extended family.
“I told myself that my job was about [freedom] but in reality I was rationalizing my own arrogance,” Hill said. “I have learned a painful but essential lesson from this experience and take full responsibility for my actions.”
In addition to the 48-month prison sentence, Cote sentenced Hill to a three-year period of supervised release, which he can serve from Lisbon, where he lives with his wife, plus a $250,000 fine. Cote said he will recommend that Hill receive credit for time he served in Portugal before being extradited to the United States, which could shave 11 weeks off his remaining sentence.
Hill must surrender to begin his sentence by January 2, 2026.
