An Ohio resident, Larry Dean Harmon, has been sentenced to three years in prison for operating Helix, a darknet cryptocurrency mixer. Helix facilitated transactions exceeding $300 million in cryptocurrency between 2014 and 2017. According to court documents, Harmon, aged 41 from Akron, managed Helix and Grams, a darknet search engine. The mixer was primarily used by online drug dealers to launder illegal earnings. It processed approximately 354,468 bitcoins, equating to about $311 million at the time of the transactions.
Harmon ensured that Helix supported major darknet markets by developing an API that integrated it into bitcoin withdrawal systems. Investigators traced significant amounts of money from these markets back to Helix. On August 18, 2021, Harmon admitted guilt in a conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In addition to his prison sentence, Harmon faces three years of supervised release and must forfeit over $400 million in assets including seized cryptocurrencies and real estate. A forfeiture money judgment was set at $311 million.
The case was announced by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia; IRS-CI Chief Guy Ficco; and FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Bryan Vorndran.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-CI’s Washington D.C. Cyber Crimes Unit and the FBI Washington Field Office with support from various international and domestic entities including the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
The Ministry of Belize's Attorney General's office and Belize Police Department provided crucial assistance through coordination with U.S. Embassy Belmopan. Additionally, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network imposed a civil monetary penalty of $60 million against Harmon in a related action.
Trial Attorney C. Alden Pelker from the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) along with Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher B. Brown prosecuted the case with assistance from other legal professionals involved.