Crypto Mixers, Helix and Coin Ninja, Fined by FinCEN for Bank Secrecy Act Violation
Larry Dean Harmon, founder of Helix and Coin Ninja, has been fined $60 million for being involved in money laundering. He is among the first mixing services operator in the crypto industry, but the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network announced its involvement in money laundering on Monday. The founder has faced continued criminal charges and now fined for breaching the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
According to the Washington prosecutors, Larry was arrested in February for operating mixers that the prosecutors allege constitute to unauthorised money services companies. The charges against Harmon indicate that he has laundered more than $300 million in Bitcoin.
As Harmon faces criminal charges in D.C., the U.S. Treasury is fining him for his former “mixer” services https://t.co/NNwWuQFdre
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) October 19, 2020
FinCEN’s inquiry has identified a minimum of 356,000 Bitcoin transactions through Helix, as of today. Attempts of mixing services aim to privatise cryptocurrencies by a series of transactions involving different wallets. The entire process obscures the coins’ origin as well as the entity controlling them when they are out of mixing. Larry’s mixers were accessible through dark web only.
FinCEN’s claims state that Larry intentionally flaunted the provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, an essential part of the US AML legislation. Breach of BSA also led to the BitMEX scandal earlier this month.
The US authorities have been breaking in for criminal activities involving cryptocurrency. According to a report released by the Department of Justice, privacy tokens such as Monero (XMR) must be considered as an alarm too.
