-
U.S Law Enforcement has permanently forfeited assets worth around $400 million linked to the Helix darknet cryptocurrency laundering mixer service.
-
Larry Dean Harmon operated Helix between 2014 and 2017 as an unregistered money transmitting business processing 1.2 million transactions.
-
Federal authorities have stated that Helix was not built as a neutral privacy service that later became abused by criminals, but rather specifically built to help users of darknet markets launder money.
Authorities in the United States have seized approximately $400 million in assets connected to a crypto mixer on the darknet. This money is connected to the tool “Helix”, as well as cash laundering from the sale of illegal goods on the dark net. Helix processed millions of dollars in Bitcoin for a variety of drug markets.
This action against financial infrastructure follows other significant U.S. prosecutions targeting dark web-facilitated crimes, including a recent landmark cyberstalking conviction for a ‘digital terror’ campaign.
A federal judge finalized the forfeiture order last week. This ends a long-running case against the service’s operator, Larry Harmon, who is likely to face a significant amount of time in prison for operating an unlicensed money laundering business.
How Helix’s Darknet Money Laundry Operated
Helix operated as a cryptocurrency ‘mixer’ or ‘tumbler’, which was based on the dark web. Helix’s job was simple but illegal. It pooled Bitcoin from its users. Afterwards, the funds were redistributed to various places to obscure where the money came from and where it was going. It made transactions nearly impossible for law enforcement to trace.
From 2014 to 2017, Helix was very popular among criminals, a go-to for laundering their proceeds. It processed about 354,468 Bitcoin worth roughly $311 million at the time. Of every transaction processed, the mixer operator, Larry Dean Harmon, took a cut. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says much of this crypto moved to and from ‘darknet drug markets.’
Ari Redbord from TRM Labs explained the significance. He told Decrypt that Helix wasn’t a regular privacy tool that got misused. It was a service “built specifically to clean money from darknet markets.” Taking it down, he said, treats this infrastructure like any other critical link in a criminal supply chain.
The Legal Case Against the Operator
The government’s case was clear. Larry Dean Harmon violated the Bank Secrecy Act. He ran Helix as an unregistered money services business (MSB). This is a major federal crime.
According to court filings, Harmon never registered Helix with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He failed to implement any anti-money laundering program. He also did not file a single suspicious activity report.
In short, he built a business designed to avoid all financial oversight. Harmon didn’t stop with Helix. He later became the CEO of a registered money services business called Coin Ninja. There, he promoted a product called DropBit. He marketed it as a way to bypass ‘know your customer’ (KYC) rules.
The civil forfeiture we see today follows earlier actions. In 2019, US prosecutors indicted Harmon, after which he pleaded guilty to conspiring to launder money in 2021. Before his guilty plea, FinCEN slammed him with a civil penalty of $60 million in 2020, which he has yet to pay.
Implications of this Takedown & What’s Next
So, does this mean the war on dark web money laundering is over? No, the dark web isn’t exactly going anywhere, meaning these criminals will keep coming back, or new ones will eventually sprout up after the old ones are eliminated. As experts like Redbord have said, the fight against darknet money laundering can sometimes feel like a game of whack-a-mole; one service goes down, another pops up.
But this takedown is a major blow. It removes a ‘purpose-built laundering hub.’ Criminals now must abandon a trusted, integrated service. They are forced to use less direct and riskier paths to launder their money.
Despite such enforcement actions, the scale of the problem remains staggering, as evidenced by recent reports that Russian dark web markets alone laundered over $2 billion through cryptocurrency exchanges, highlighting the immense and persistent challenge.
Each successful operation like this adds real friction. It breaks familiar routes. It pushes criminal funds into new, more traceable channels. Even when activity shifts, it becomes slower, costlier, and more exposed to the bad actors.
That $400 million forfeiture? It’s not just a number. It’s a warning shot. The U.S. government is watching these shady money trails, and they’re not just sitting around. They’re ready to grab huge amounts of dirty cash and tear apart the networks that keep the darknet in business.
