Brother of Helix founder sentenced to four years in prison for theft of 712 BTC

The court sentenced Gary Harmon — brother of Helix founder Larry Harmon’s crypto mixer — to four years and three months in prison for the theft of 712 BTC seized by U.S. authorities (more than $20 million at the time of writing). The Justice Department reports.

In February 2020, Larry Harmon’s arrest on suspicion of laundering more than $300 million through darknet markets from 2014 to 2017, to which he subsequently confessed. Authorities seized various assets from him, including a device for storing bitcoins, but could not access the cryptocurrency.

Harmon used his brother’s accounts and secretly transferred more than 712 BTC (at the time about $4.8 million) from the device to his own address, hindering the confiscation. He used two cryptocurrency mixers and spent part of the stolen funds.

In January 2023, Gary Harmon pleaded guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of justice. He agreed to return to authorities previously seized assets, namely 647.41 BTC, 2.14 ETH and 17,404,400.64 DOGE.

As reported, the Tornado Cash mixer developer Alexey Pertsev, suspected of involvement in laundering funds and concealing illicit financial flows, has been placed under house arrest since April 26.