An Ohio man convicted of Bitcoin laundering must forfeit more than $400 million in assets.

Larry Dean Harmon, a man from Ohio, has been sentenced to three years in prison and must forfeit more than $400 million in cryptocurrencies and other assets, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. Harmon was charged in 2020 with conspiracy to commit money laundering related to Helix, a cryptocurrency "mixing" service on the dark web that he operated.

Services like Helix, also known as cryptocurrency "tumbling," aim to obscure cryptocurrency transactions, often linked to illegal drug trafficking, as well as the identities of those involved. Between 2014 and 2017, Harmon processed over 350,000 Bitcoins in these types of transactions, representing approximately $311 million at the time, according to the DOJ announcement.

Harmon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in August 2021, and after serving his sentence, he will be on supervised release for three more years. Additionally, he was subjected to a monetary forfeiture judgment of $311,145,854.

Although he faced a potential sentence of 20 years in prison, the judge granted a more lenient sentence due to his cooperation in several other investigations. In particular, his testimony in the trial of Roman Sterlingov, who operated another cryptocurrency mixing service called Bitcoin Fog, was noted.