NEW YORK – William “Bill” Hill, 67, one of the co-founders of Bitcoin mixer Samourai Wallet, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison 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 transmission business, to which both men pleaded guilty in July — said she was “significant sentences for Hill,” including Hill’s various counts. recent autism diagnosis and his advanced age.
“I accept that it’s going to be a harder time for the defendant to be in prison than a lot of other people,” Cote said. “Otherwise I would impose a sentence of 60 months.”
Hill’s attorney, Roger Burlingame of Dechert LLP, spent a significant portion of Wednesday’s hearing describing how Hill’s autism was the explanation — or, as Burlingame put it, “the key that unlocks the puzzle” — of Hill’s behavior.
Bitcoin, Burlingame said, was “like catnip” for a black-and-white thinker like Hill, who was drawn to the “idealism and absolutism” of blockchain technology, the “noble purpose … to fend off an intrusive government, an Orwellian dystopia” and a built-in community of fellow bitcoin enthusiasts — something he said Hill had “never had before.”
Hill’s lawyer also said his autism explained why he thought what he was doing with the Samourai Wallet was legal. Because the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) did not require non-defunding to register as money transmitters, 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 naïve view…a magical-thinking, autistic view of the world.”
Burlingame asked that Hill be sentenced to time served, adding that his three-month stint in a Portuguese prison last year was punishment enough to deter him from ever breaking the law again.
“Prison is extraordinarily hard on him given his extreme sensitivity,” Burlingame said, adding that the forced socialization of being in prison is “torture” for Hill.
As Burlingame spoke, Cote cut in 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 law was broken — it’s just not true,” Cote said. “I completely deny that the defendant does not know the difference between right and wrong or that his autism prevented him from living a moral life.”
When it was Hill’s turn to address the judge, he was visibly emotional as he spoke of the negative impact his prosecution had had on his wife, Sabrina, and his extended family.
“I told myself that my work was about [freedom] but in truth, I was rationalizing my own hubris,” Hill said. “I have learned a painful but essential lesson from this experience, and I 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 will be allowed to serve from Lisbon, where he lives with his wife, plus a $250,000 fine. Cote said she will recommend that Hill receive credit for the time he served in Portugal before being extradited to the United States, potentially shaving 11 weeks off his remaining sentence.
Hill must turn himself in to begin his sentence by January 2, 2026.
