Larry Harmon, the CEO of Bitcoin media site Coin Ninja and founder of crypto wallet provider DropBit, is facing federal charges related to his apply of Bitcoin privacy tools.

U.s. federal prosecutors are charging Harmon with conspiracy to launder coin and operating a money transmitting business without a FinCEN license.

According to an abort warrant filed before this calendar month, Harmon allegedly laundered over 354,468 Bitcoins (BTC) (worth $311 million at the time of the transactions), assuasive the users of a privacy tool named Helix, and a darknet search engine named Grams, to make transactions on AlphaBay, a known dark market that was shut downwards in 2022.

Helix allowed users to mix the coins before spending through a CoinJoin transaction. The mixing of coins has been associated with money laundering and other illicit activities.

Harmon is facing a 30-yr prison sentence for these declared crimes.

Harmon denied bond

Journalist and podcaster Peter McCormack reportedly spoke to Harmon's brother, Gary Harmon, who said that Coin Ninja's assets take been frozen and that the FBI has removed $4,000 in Bitcoin from its Lightning Network node.

Co-ordinate to McGormack, Larry has been denied release on bail bond considering he was deemed a flight hazard, "even though they take confiscated all his assets."

The state attorney's motion to detain Harmon shows that the land believes that Harmon will not reasonably appear in courtroom if permitted a release on bail as he has "pregnant family unit ties exterior the United States" and is "subject to a lengthy catamenia of incarceration if bedevilled.

DropBit has gained some attention among Bitcoiners, particularly because it allows the users to send BTC on-chain and over the Lightning Network using Twitter handles or phone numbers. Since DropBit's funds take been frozen, Gary Harmon and its developers are personally funding the wallet's operations, according to McCormack.

Additional reporting by Aaron Forest