Security News > 2020 > October > US Treasury hits bitcoin mixer with $60 million penalty
The US Department of Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network today announced the first-ever penalty against a Helix and Coin Ninja cryptocurrency mixing services.
FinCEN assessed a $60 million civil money penalty against Larry Dean Harmon, the founder and operator of the Helix and Coin Ninja cryptocurrency tumblers, for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and its regulations while operating the two services as unregistered money services businesses.
Harmon advertised the two bitcoin mixers' services "In the darkest spaces of the internet" as secure and anonymous ways to "Pay for things like drugs, guns, and child pornography."
Based on FinCEN's investigations, while operating through the Helix bitcoin tumbler, Harmon engaged in transactions with counterfeiters, fraudsters, narcotics traffickers, as well as various other criminals.
"FinCEN has identified at least 356,000 bitcoin transactions through Helix between June 2014 and December 2017.".