Samourai Wallet co-founder faces new transfer after 30-day ordeal

Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez faces another prison transfer after the drug treatment program at FCI McKean was deactivated, he said Wednesday.

Rodriguez said on X that McKean’s warden told program participants that Rodriguez and 70 others would be moved to facilities where treatment remains available. He entered the program because completing it could reduce his sentence by up to a year.

In a letter published by The Rage, Rodriguez called his earlier journey from FPC Morgantown to McKean the “absolute worst 30 days” of his life. He said his request to make the roughly four-hour trip himself was denied.

Rodriguez is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The Justice Department said he and Samourai co-founder William Lonergan Hill transmitted more than $237 million in criminal proceeds through the service.

A four-hour drive became 30 days in transit

Rodriguez said inmates leaving Morgantown were placed in ankle shackles and handcuffs attached to waist chains before being taken by bus to an airport and flown to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.

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