A lawsuit was filed by the United States Department of Justice to recover $60M that Larry Harmon received for operating a bitcoin mix service. Harmon had been targeted in 2020 by U.S. law enforcement. Harmon was alleged to have operated an illegal money-transmitting company.
Bank Secrecy Act violation
In an attempt to recover $60 million in fines he received from regulators, Larry Harmon is being sued by the United States Department of Justice. According to a Reuters report, the fine, which was imposed in 2020, stems from Harmon’s alleged violation of the United States federal Bank Secrecy Act.
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) states Harmon owned an unlicensed money transfer business. U.S. regulators said that the company allowed anonymous users to send virtual currencies. Harmon was allegedly convicted of a conspiracy to launder money in 2021 and vowed cooperation with federal authorities.
However, according to the Helix founder’s motion to dismiss filed with the U.S. District Court in 2021, Harmon claimed he had “never set out to break the law.” He insisted if he had known in 2014 — when he started Helix’s operations — that “operating a bitcoin tumbler was illegal, he never would have done it.”
Furthermore, the Helix mixer employed a “double-blind system,” which means Harmon had no idea how much BTC was sent through the mixing platform. As per the report, neither Harmon’s lawyer nor the representative of FinCEN had responded to media inquiries concerning the DOJ’s decision to sue.
The report stated that Harmon had agreed to $311,000 in restitution as part of the criminal case. The report added that Harmon’s sentencing had been deferred pending his cooperation with the U.S. government.
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