FinCEN fined bitcoin mixer Helix founder $ 60 million

Larry Dean Harmon, the founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Helix and CEO of Coin Ninja, was fined 60 milliondollars for years of violations of bank secrecy laws at the request of the Financial Crimes Network (FinCEN).

According to The Block, Harmon became a defendantUS Department of Justice case in February: he was accused of creating a user-focused bitcoin mixer Helix. FinCEN said:

"Harmon, acting on behalf ofHelix and Coin Ninja, operated a convertible virtual currency exchanger, accepting and transferring bitcoins in a variety of ways. From June 2014 to December 2017, Helix conducted over 1,225,000 transactions for its customers and was associated with virtual currency wallet addresses that sent or received over $ 311 million. During the investigation, FinCEN identified at least 356,000 bitcoin transactions passed through Helix. "

FinCEN states that Harmon deliberately went toviolation of the law regarding registration and reporting for business in the field of money transfers, and also did not use measures to combat money laundering and did not report suspicious activity to the responsible authorities.

In response to an inquiry from FinCEN in March, Helix stated,that does not provide services in the field of money transfers. No progress has been reported in the Justice Department v Helix case since the lawsuit was filed in February.

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