The individual within the shared case
One prosecution. Two defendants. Separate lives and sentences.
Hill and Rodriguez built and operated Samourai Wallet together, and the federal case against them is inseparable. But Hill’s record is his own: he served as CTO, was arrested in Portugal, extradited to the United States, entered his own guilty plea, and received a four-year sentence. His supporters argue that applying money-transmission law to privacy software threatens developers and financial privacy beyond either defendant.
Extradition and a guilty plea do not erase the government’s fair-notice problem.
Before indictment, FinCEN personnel told prosecutors that Samourai’s lack of custody strongly suggested it was not a money transmitter under the agency’s guidance. According to the defense, that conversation surfaced nearly twenty months later. Hill’s plea is part of the record; so is the pressure created when prosecutors apply a disputed legal theory after an international arrest and extradition.
Hill pleaded guilty on July 30, 2025, and was sentenced on November 19, 2025, to four years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors said Hill helped design and promote Samourai to transmit and conceal criminal proceeds and cited his public and private statements about illicit use. The government disputed that the FinCEN call constituted a binding agency conclusion.
Supporters describe Samourai as non-custodial privacy software. The defense argued that FinCEN guidance, the late-disclosed call, and the absence of custody deprived the developers of fair notice that their work could be prosecuted as money transmission.
Editorial note: This profile is defense-centered advocacy. Hill’s plea and sentence, the government’s allegations, the late-disclosure dispute, campaign arguments, and the separate record of co-defendant Keonne Rodriguez are labeled distinctly.