Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez has said he faces another federal prison transfer after a drug-treatment program at FCI McKean was deactivated.
Summary
- Rodriguez says FCI McKean ended his treatment program, triggering another transfer with roughly seventy inmates.
- Completing the federal drug program could cut Rodriguez’s five-year sentence by up to twelve months.
- His previous transfer from Morgantown to McKean took thirty days despite a four-hour driving distance.
- DOJ says Samourai transmitted more than $237 million in criminal proceeds through its privacy services.
- Senate CLARITY legislation containing developer protections failed to advance on a 49–50 procedural vote September.
Rodriguez’s September 24 post on X says the prison warden informed program participants that he and roughly 70 other inmates would be transferred to facilities where the treatment remains available. The Federal Bureau of Prisons had not published a separate notice confirming McKean’s program shutdown at the time of reporting, so the transfer details come from Rodriguez’s account.
Why is Rodriguez facing another prison transfer?
Rodriguez entered the Residential Drug Abuse Program, or RDAP, because successful completion can reduce an eligible federal inmate’s sentence. The BOP explains that eligible participants may receive an early-release reduction after completing the residential treatment program.
For sentences of 37 months or longer, current BOP policy allows an early-release reduction of up to 12 months. Rodriguez is serving five years, making that maximum theoretically relevant if he satisfies the program’s eligibility and completion requirements. The reduction is not automatic because the BOP retains authority over eligibility and the amount granted.
Rodriguez said he had only recently settled into FCI McKean when inmates learned the treatment program would no longer continue there. His account says participants now expect reassignment to institutions that still offer RDAP.
An older BOP program-location guide listed a residential drug program at McKean, although the agency’s public materials reviewed for this report do not independently confirm the September 2026 deactivation Rodriguez described.
His last four-hour transfer took 30 days
The prospect of another move follows what Rodriguez described as a month-long transfer from FPC Morgantown in West Virginia to FCI McKean in Pennsylvania.
In a September 24 letter published by The Rage, Rodriguez said the facilities were approximately a four-hour drive apart. His transfer instead began June 10 and involved buses, two flights and a stop at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City.
Rodriguez said he requested permission to make the journey through a transfer furlough because he had minimum-security status and had self-surrendered to begin his sentence. He wrote that officials denied the request without explanation on June 8. Those descriptions are his personal account and have not been independently confirmed by the BOP.
During the transfer, Rodriguez said officers placed him in ankle restraints and handcuffs secured to a waist chain before taking him by bus to an airport. He described passing through detention facilities with inmates from different security classifications and spending long periods inside cells.
Rodriguez called the journey the “absolute worst 30 days” of his life. He wrote that he shared one cell with a man serving a murder sentence and described sleeping on part of a foam mattress while part of his body rested on the metal bunk.
The BOP says prison placement and transfers can depend on security classification, bed availability, program needs, medical requirements and other factors. Federal law directs the agency to consider housing inmates reasonably close to their primary residences when practicable, but programming needs can affect placement decisions.
Samourai case ended with five- and four-year sentences
Rodriguez is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty in August 2025 to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Co-founder William Lonergan Hill received four years.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said Samourai transmitted more than $237 million in traceable criminal proceeds through its services. Prosecutors linked the funds to darknet markets, fraud, cybercrime, sanctioned jurisdictions and other offenses.
Samourai offered Whirlpool, which mixed Bitcoin transactions, and Ricochet, which inserted extra transaction hops between sending and receiving addresses. Prosecutors said more than 80,000 BTC, then valued above $2 billion, moved through the services after their launches.
Judge Denise Cote sentenced Rodriguez on November 6, 2025. The court imposed three years of supervised release after imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Rodriguez and Hill paid approximately $6.37 million in forfeiture representing Samourai fees, according to the Justice Department.
As crypto.news previously reported, Rodriguez later sought public donations after saying legal expenses left him more than $2 million in debt. He said at the time that he was still seeking presidential clemency while preparing to begin his sentence.
Developer protections remain unresolved after CLARITY vote
Rodriguez’s case has continued to appear in U.S. debates over when developers of non-custodial crypto software can face money-transmission obligations.
The final Senate CLARITY Act text released September 14 contained provisions derived from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. Senator Cynthia Lummis’s office said the language would shield qualifying developers from money-transmission registration requirements and create a civil safe harbor.
As crypto.news previously reported, Coin Center had urged lawmakers to preserve protections for non-custodial blockchain developers. The advocacy group argued that software developers who never control customer assets should not automatically be treated as money transmitters.
The Senate did not advance H.R. 3633 on September 15. The official roll call shows the cloture motion failed 49–50, short of the three-fifths threshold required to proceed.
Lawmakers gave different reasons for opposing the measure. Republican Senator Susan Collins said the legislation required more study, including questions over community-bank deposits. Democratic senators including Catherine Cortez Masto and Angela Alsobrooks cited unresolved concerns over ethics, illicit-finance enforcement and other provisions.
The failed procedural vote left the proposed developer language unenacted. Rodriguez’s conviction and sentence remain governed by the law and judgment already entered in his criminal case.
For Rodriguez, the immediate issue is administrative rather than legislative. His latest account says the BOP must designate another institution where he can continue the treatment program tied to his potential sentence reduction. No destination or transfer date had been publicly disclosed when his September 24 update was published.
