US DOJ Finds $400 Million Legal Property Tied to Anonymous Bitcoin Helix Mix

The US Department of Justice has seized over $400 million in crypto, cash, and real estate linked to Helix Bitcoin Mixer.

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

The foreclosure was completed in late January 2026, ending years of litigation against Helix operator Larry Dean Harmon.

Helix’s illegal activity and Harmon’s case

Helix, which operated from 2014 to 2017, is marketed as a scalable service designed to hide Bitcoin transactions. Investigators found that it has become a major center for money laundering related to drug trafficking, robbery and other illegal activities. The court filing shows that Helix processed more than 354,468 Bitcoin, worth an estimated $300 million at the time, from its users.

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

The Ohio operator of Helix was first indicted in 2020 for conspiracy to launder money and operating an unlicensed remittance 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 forfeiture sentence and forfeiture of assets.

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

Controls make it easy to crack Crypto Mixers

The Helix case is part of a broader deregulation of cryptocurrency and privacy tools. Platforms like Tornado Cash have also faced disciplinary and enforcement actions in recent years. Although crypto advocates maintain that these services can provide legal privacy protection, authorities continue to focus on their potential use in criminal activities.

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In a related development, blockchain entrepreneur and Coin Center partner Michael Lewellen filed a lawsuit last year challenging the DOJ, seeking a ruling that his cryptocurrency crowdfunding platform, Pharos, does not violate money transfer laws. The lawsuit alleges that software developers who build privacy tools that don’t end up being protected are being unfairly targeted.

The Department of Justice later announced that it would no longer pursue criminal charges against crypto exchanges, developers, or users for violations. This development follows the disbandment of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), a special unit tasked with investigating crypto-related crimes.