Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez said Wednesday that after the addiction treatment program at FCI McKean was deactivated, he and 70 other participants will be transferred to facilities where treatment remains available. Previously, his transfer from FPC Morgantown to McKean took 30 days.

According to Rodriguez, the warden at McKean informed program participants about the upcoming move. He joined the program because completing it could reduce his sentence by up to a year.

A four-hour trip turned into a 30-day transfer

Rodriguez wrote that his request to travel to McKean on his own in about four hours was denied. Inmates from Morgantown were placed in leg irons and handcuffs attached to a waist chain, then transported by bus to the airport and flown to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. There, he spent most of his time locked in a cell among inmates of various security levels, was assigned a cellmate convicted of murder, and received only part of a foam mattress.

Five years for unlicensed money transmission

Rodriguez is serving a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that he and Samourai co-founder William Lonergan Hill processed over $237 million in illicit proceeds through the service.

Developer protections uncertain after CLARITY setback

The case has unfolded alongside Congressional efforts to protect developers who do not control user assets from being classified as financial intermediaries. The latest Senate draft of the CLARITY Act retained provisions from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, exempting such developers from some money transmission requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act. On September 15, the Senate did not advance CLARITY due to a lack of 60 votes in a procedural vote.