Gary James Harmon, 31, from Cleveland, Ohio, has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison after stealing 712 bitcoin seized by investigators following the arrest of his brother, Larry Dean Harmon, accused of operating the Helix cryptocurrency mixer.
Helix was a darknet-based cryptocurrency money laundering service, known as a “mixer” or “tumbler.” Helix laundered over 350,000 bitcoin – valued at over $300 million at the time of the transactions – on behalf of customers, with the largest volume coming from darknet markets, the US Department of Justice said in a press release.
In February, the police arrested Larry Harmon, the alleged operator of the service, and seized various assets, including a cryptocurrency storage device that held money illegally obtained through the operation of Helix.
In August 2021, Larry Harmon pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy arising from his operation of Helix.
However, law enforcement was initially unable to recover bitcoin stored on the device due to the device’s additional security features. Knowing this, Gary Harmon used his brother’s credentials to access the device and transfer more than 712 bitcoin, which was the subject of “pending criminal forfeiture proceedings,” to his own wallets. He then laundered the proceeds through two online bitcoin mixer services before using the laundered bitcoins to finance large purchases and other expenditures.
Gary Harmon agreed to the forfeit to the state the cryptocurrency he stole, including over 647 bitcoin, 2 Ethereum and 17.4 million Dogecoin.
“Due to the increase in market prices, the total value of these forfeitable properties exceeds $20 million,” the DoJ noted.
