US DOJ Obtains Legal Ownership of $400 Million Tied to Infamous Bitcoin Mixer Helix

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has officially seized more than $400 million in cryptocurrencies, real estate, and cash linked to the Helix Bitcoin Mixer.

The forfeiture was finalized in late January 2026, concluding years of litigation against Helix’s operator, Larry Dean Harmon.

Helix’s Illegal Activity and Harmon’s Case

Helix, which operated from 2014 to 2017, was marketed as a tumbling service designed to anonymize Bitcoin transactions. Investigators found that it had become a major hub for laundering funds connected to drug trafficking, hacking, and other illegal activities. Court filings show that Helix processed more than 354,468 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $300 million at the time, for its users.

Harmon, who also created the darknet search engine Grams, made the platform to integrate directly with major darknet markets. Its Application Programming Interface (API) allowed them to connect the service to their Bitcoin withdrawal systems, earning them a percentage of each transaction as commission and fees. Investigators also traced tens of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds from several darknet markets through the mixing service.

The Ohio-based operator of Helix was first charged in 2020 with money laundering conspiracy and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. In August 2021, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced in November 2024 to 36 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a monetary forfeiture judgment, and seized assets.

On January 21, 2026, Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a final forfeiture order, officially transferring the assets to the government.

Regulators Ease Crackdown on Crypto Mixers

The Helix case is part of a broader regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrency mixers and privacy tools. Platforms such as Tornado Cash have also faced sanctions and enforcement actions in recent years. While crypto advocates maintain that these services can offer legitimate privacy protections, authorities continue to focus on their potential use in criminal activity.

In a related development, blockchain entrepreneur and Coin Center fellow Michael Lewellen filed a lawsuit last year challenging the DOJ, seeking a ruling that his non-custodial crypto crowdfunding platform, Pharos, does not violate money transmission laws. The legal action argues that software developers creating non-custodial privacy tools are being unfairly targeted.

The Justice Department later announced it would no longer pursue criminal cases against crypto exchanges, developers, or users for regulatory violations. This development follows the disbanding of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), the specialized unit responsible for investigating crypto-related criminal activity.

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