Rodriguez says hopes for a presidential pardon have faded as he seeks Bitcoin donations to cover more than $2 million in legal debt and a $250,000 fine tied to the Samourai Wallet case.
Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez, who is serving a 60-month federal sentence, published an appeal from prison asking the Bitcoin community for donations after saying he and his wife face more than $2 million in legal debt and pressure from the Department of Justice to begin paying a $250,000 court-imposed fine. Rodriguez said expectations of a presidential pardon have effectively ended after President Trump said in December 2025 that he would review the case but no action followed. Rodriguez and co-founder William Lonergan Hill pleaded guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and the judgment included forfeiture of about $6.37 million in Samourai-related fees, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The case remains a focal point in the debate over whether developers of non-custodial Bitcoin privacy tools can face criminal liability for how users employ their software.