Helix Mixer Founder Jailed for $300 Million Crypto Laundering

An Ohio resident, Larry Harmon, received a three-year prison sentence for operating Helix, a darknet mixer.

Over the course of his operation, Harmon oversaw $300 million in laundered assets, with most of the funds coming from or going to darknet drug markets.

Helix Mixer Operator Larry Harmon Sentenced to 3 Years

Harmon pleaded guilty in 2021 to operating a cryptocurrency mixing platform tied to illegal activities. On November 15, US District Judge Beryl Howell granted him a lenient sentence, acknowledging his cooperation in the Bitcoin Fog investigation. This case also entangled both Harmon and a separate individual involved in the Bitfinex heist.

Both provided testimony regarding Bitcoin Fog, which the Bitfinex hacker used for years to launder stolen assets. Sentencing for all three individuals occurred within a span of 48 hours.

“The scale and the impact of the defendant’s money laundering operation was staggering,” said Alden Pelker, a prosecutor on the Bitcoin Fog case. “He brought search engine optimization to local cocaine distributors,” she said.

Harmon originally built the Helix mixer to improve upon Bitcoin Fog’s features. He eventually ceased Helix operations two years before his arrest and testified in court, reducing his sentence from a maximum of twenty years to just three. Authorities have ordered Harmon to forfeit $311 million in assets, representing the value of at least 354,468 Bitcoin during the operation.

His brother, Gary Harmon, was also found to be complicit in the crimes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized 4,877 BTC from Larry Harmon as part of an investigation. These digital tokens were stored in wallets accessed through a device held in an IRS evidence locker.

Prosecutors accused Gary Harmon of using Larry’s credentials to recreate eight of the Bitcoin wallets, allowing him to transfer Bitcoin from the wallets and thereby bypassing the IRS’s custody. After the Bitcoin vanished from the IRS-secured device, investigators found evidence implicating Gary.

An image found on his phone showed him at a nightclub in a bathtub filled with cash. Gary reportedly used 68 Bitcoin as collateral for a $1.2 million loan. He also spent some of the stolen funds to purchase a luxury condominium in Cleveland. Gary Harmon admitted guilt and was sentenced to four years in prison by Judge Howell.