Compass Investments

U.S. authorities have completed the seizure of bitcoins, property and cash related to a major darknet mixing service.

The United States has officially taken possession of more than $400 million in bitcoins, cash and real estate related to Helix, a once widely used tool for darknet bitcoin laundering.

On January 21, a federal court in Washington, D.C., issued a final order seizing the assets, officially turning them over to the government after the conviction of Larry Dean Harmon, who ran the service. Among the seized assets were thousands of bitcoins, hundreds of thousands of dollars in traditional currency, and an Ohio apartment building purchased during Helix’s heyday.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the platform was specifically created for the needs of shadow markets and had a direct programmatic connection (API) with their systems for withdrawal of funds. According to the case file, from 2014 to 2017, about 354,468 bitcoins passed through Helix, which was then valued at approximately $300 million. Harmon charged a fee for each transaction as a service fee.

In August 2021, Harmon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money. After a protracted trial, he was sentenced to three years in prison followed by supervised release in November 2024. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered the forfeiture of the seized funds and imposed an additional payment as restitution. Law enforcement officials noted that Helix acted in concert with Grams, a darknet search engine also run by Harmon, which helped users find illegal sites.

According to Realtor.com, prosecutors took more than $325,000 in cash and about 4,500 bitcoins, whose current value reaches about $355 million.