Ohioan Laundered $300 Million Through Dark Web: DOJ

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Ohio man has pleaded guilty to moving $300 million through his cryptocurrency-based money laundering service on the dark web, the Department of Justice announced.

Larry Dean Harmon, 38, from Akron, admitted he ran Helix, a Darknet-based cryptocurrenc laundering service, on Wednesday. Court documents said he laundered more than $300 million through the service between 2014 and 2017.

Harmon faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for money laundering, a fine of $500,000 and a term of supervised release of not more than three years. Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia accepted Harmon's guilty plea and will determine his sentence.

“Harmon admitted that he conspired with Darknet vendors to launder bitcoin generated through drug trafficking and other illegal activities,” said Assistant Director in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

Helix worked as a bitcoin "mixer" or "tumbler," the Department of Justice said, meaning that customers, for a fee, could send bitcoin to specific people in a way that disguised who the bitcoin came from. Harmon advertised his service as a way to conceal financial transactions from law enforcement, court documents said.

While it operated, Helix moved more than 350,000 bitcoin — valued at more than $300 million at the time of the transactions, court documents said. Harmon also admitted he conspired with Darknet vendors and marketplace administrators to launder bitcoins generated through drug trafficking, court documents said.

As part of his plea deal, Harmon agreed to forfeit more than 4,400 bitcoin, valued at more than $200 million.

“Darknet markets and the dealers who sell opioids and other illegal drugs on them are a growing scourge,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia. “They may try to hide their identities and launder millions in sales behind technologies like Helix. But the department and its law enforcement partners will shine a light on their activities, dismantle the infrastructure such criminal marketplaces depend on, and prosecute and convict those responsible.”