For operating Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency laundering service, Larry Harmon,36, of Akron, Ohio was charged ko u to à with money laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and conducting money transmission without a D.C license. Darknet users around the globe got hundreds of millions of dollars of proceeds from illicit narcotics and criminal deals laundered by Helix as accordingly stated by Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
US Attorney Timothy J. Shea of the District of Columbia said the charges against Harmon that accused Helix of moving over 350,000 bitcoin-valued at over $300 million will serve as a deterrent to others who consider illegality as a way of amassing wealth. The investigation was led by the IRS-CI and the FBI’s Washington Field Office with assistance from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Meanwhile, the charges in the indictment are merely allegations and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.