Larry Harmon, a resident of Ohio, received a three-year prison sentence for running Helix, a darknet mixer.
During his operation, Harmon oversaw a staggering $300 million in laundered assets. Most of this money came from or went to darknet drug markets.
In 2021, Harmon pleaded guilty to operating a cryptocurrency mixing platform linked to illegal activities. On November 15, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell granted him a lenient sentence. This decision acknowledged his cooperation in the Bitcoin Fog investigation.
This case also involved another individual connected to the Bitfinex heist. Both Harmon and this person provided testimony about Bitcoin Fog, which the Bitfinex hacker used for years to launder stolen funds. Remarkably, sentencing for all three individuals took place within just 48 hours.
Prosecutor Alden Pelker remarked, “The scale and the impact of the defendant’s money laundering operation was staggering.” She added, “He brought search engine optimization to local cocaine distributors.”
Harmon initially created the Helix mixer to enhance Bitcoin Fog's features. He stopped Helix operations two years before his arrest. His cooperation in court helped reduce his potential sentence from twenty years to just three.
Authorities have ordered Harmon to forfeit $311 million in assets. This amount represents the value of at least 354,468 Bitcoin during his operation.
His brother, Gary Harmon, was also found complicit in the crimes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized 4,877 BTC from Larry as part of their investigation. These digital tokens were stored in wallets accessed through a device in an IRS evidence locker.
Prosecutors accused Gary of using Larry’s credentials to recreate eight Bitcoin wallets. This allowed him to transfer Bitcoin from those wallets and bypass the IRS's custody. After the Bitcoin disappeared from the IRS-secured device, investigators found evidence linking Gary to the crime.
An image discovered on Gary's phone showed him at a nightclub, lying in a bathtub filled with cash. He reportedly used 68 Bitcoin as collateral for a $1.2 million loan. Additionally, he spent some of the stolen funds on a luxury condominium in Cleveland.
Gary Harmon admitted his guilt and received a four-year prison sentence from Judge Howell.