A US man was sentenced to three years in prison for operating the Bitcoin mixing service Helix and assisting in the laundering of more than $300 million in Bitcoin

Odaily News Larry Harmon, an Ohio man who helped drug dealers and other criminals launder more than $300 million in Bitcoin, has been sentenced to three years in prison after a judge gave him a lighter sentence for helping the U.S. prosecute other cryptocurrency cases. Harmon pleaded guilty in 2021 after running a "coin mixing" service on the dark web. His Helix service helped hundreds of drug dealers "operate with impunity for years" and facilitated the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit funds, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Harmon in federal court in Washington on Friday, saying his "large-scale, long-term" money laundering constituted "extremely serious conduct." But Howell rejected the government's recommendation for a harsher sentence of more than six years, noting that Harmon "substantially assisted" law enforcement and decided to shut down Helix two years before his arrest. "He had reformed before his arrest," the judge said. (Bloomberg)