US government to crack down on another cryptocurrency mixer

The US Department of Justice has filed a formal lawsuit against the founder of cryptocurrency mixer Helix for failing to pay a $ 60 million civil penalty.

«Harmon actively assisted cybercriminals in circumventing the internal control procedures in place at regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. Through his services, Harmon promoted illegal activities on the Internet, concealing the nature, location, and sources of income from the illegal actions of cybercriminals,» the authors of the lawsuit state.

Back in 2020, the Department of the Treasury, as part of the newly created Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), fined Harmon after the crypto mixer owner was charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and money laundering. A year later, the DOJ announced that Larry Harmon had confessed to laundering $ 300 million worth of bitcoins and pledged to pay the fine imposed by FinCEN. In the course of the investigation, Harmon agreed to voluntary restitution in favor of the state — 4,400 BTC. It should be noted that Harmon could be imprisoned for 20 years. However, due to his cooperation with the justice system, the final sentence against the Helix owner has been postponed for now.

At the end of September, cryptocurrency analysts from Chainalysis analyzed the US government’s sanctions policy against the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. Experts believe that the banned service will be replaced by others. Chainalisys assured that there is a «hole» in the cryptocurrency industry that needs to be filled, so lesser-known projects will compete for the same level of popularity as Tornado Cash. As you can see, the experts' assumptions make sense.