"It seems that the U.S. Marshall Service (USMS) has sold the $6.3 million worth of bitcoin that Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill paid the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as a fee that was part of their guilty plea. In doing so, it has potentially violated Executive Order (EO) 14233, which mandates that bitcoin acquired via criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings should be held as part of the United States' Strategy Bitcoin Reserve (SBR). If the Southern District of New York (SDNY), the federal judicial district in which the Samourai case was to be tried, did, in fact, violate EO 14233, it would not be the first time employees of the SDNY have acted in defiance of direction from the federal government."
"According to a document titled "Asset Liquidation Agreement", which has been obtained exclusively by Bitcoin Magazine and has not until now been made public, the bitcoin that Rodriguez and Hill forfeited is to be sold - or already has been. As per the document, the defendants agreed to transfer $6,367,139.69 worth of bitcoin - 57.55353033 bitcoin at the time the final party signed the agreement, which was Assistant United States Attorney Cecilia Vogelon November 3, 2025 - to the USMS. The bitcoin, which was sent from address bc1q4pntkz06z7xxvdcers09cyjqz5gf8ut4pua22r on November 3, 2025, seems to have bypassed any direct custody by the USMS. Instead, it seems to have been sent directly to Coinbase Prime address 3Lz5ULL7nG7vv6nwc8kNnbjDmSnawKS3n8 ( Arkham Intel attributes this address to the brokerage), presumably to be sold. This Coinbase Prime address currently has a zero balance, indicating that the bitcoin may have already been sold."
Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill forfeited 57.55353033 BTC valued at $6,367,139.69 to the U.S. Marshals Service as part of a guilty-plea-related fee. An Asset Liquidation Agreement records the transfer on November 3, 2025 from address bc1q4pntkz06z7xxvdcers09cyjqz5gf8ut4pua22r and indicates the bitcoin was forwarded directly to a Coinbase Prime address attributed to the brokerage. The Coinbase Prime address now shows a zero balance, suggesting the bitcoin may have already been sold. If sold, that action likely contravenes Executive Order 14233, which requires bitcoin acquired via forfeiture to be held in the United States' Strategy Bitcoin Reserve. The Southern District of New York has previously acted contrary to federal direction in similar contexts.
Read at Bitcoin Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]