TL;DR

Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez requests a presidential pardon before reporting to a 5-year prison sentence.
He argues the case targets privacy software, not criminal victims, and is political “lawfare.”
He also seeks clemency for co-founder William Lonergan Hill, who received a 4-year sentence.

Keonne Rodriguez, a co-founder of Samourai Wallet, used social media to ask US President Donald Trump for a federal pardon. Rodriguez said he reports to prison on Friday to start a five-year sentence after a guilty plea tied to operating an illegal money transmitter.

Rodriguez argues his conduct created no direct victims. Rodriguez also frames the case as political “lawfare” and blames a Biden-era Department of Justice. Rodriguez criticizes judges involved in the process and says prosecutors targeted privacy tools and digital rights.

Rodriguez also asks clemency for William “Bill” Lonergan Hill, another Samourai executive. Hill pleaded guilty and received a four-year sentence in the same matter. Rodriguez presents both sentences as punishment for software linked to private transactions rather than harm to users.

“I maintain hope that [Trump] is a fair man, a man of the people, who will see this prosecution for what it was: an anti innovation, anti american, attack on the rights and liberties of free people,” said Rodriguez. “I believe his team […] and others truly want to end the weaponization of the DOJ that the previous administration wielded so effectively […] I believe he will continue to wield that power for good and pardon me and Bill.”

Rodriguez’s post follows comments from Trump about taking a look at the case while claiming no prior knowledge of the situation. Public messaging now does the work of a formal petition in real time, although no confirmed filing appears in Rodriguez’s statement.

Trump has already granted clemency tied to crypto-related cases

In January, Trump issued a pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, who served a life sentence for running the darknet market. Trump also granted a pardon to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao after Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to one felony tied to the exchange’s anti-money-laundering controls and served four months in prison.

Rodriguez uses language that echoes recent White House framing around justice and executive clemency. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used similar terms when she defended clemency for David Gentile, a defendant convicted in 2024 in a $1.6 billion fraud case involving thousands of investors.

Rodriguez now enters custody with a direct request to the president and a public narrative aimed at reshaping the case. The pardon decision remains unknown, yet Rodriguez treats the appeal as the final lever he can still pull.

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Filed under: News - @ December 20, 2025 12:22 am