FreeSamourai

#FreeSamourai
#PardonSamourai

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

A brilliant Bitcoin developer is still rotting in a Pennsylvania prison.

Please help move his pardon case forward.
@EagleEdMartin
@SenMcCormickPA
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

Sign the petition now: https://t.co/cDWluKnd67

#PardonSamourai
#FreeSamourai

[Keonne Rodriguez @keonne]

Hi everyone.

I am sorry it has been so long since I last checked in with you. As most of you probably know, I was transferred to a new prison to participate in a program that would take a year off my sentence when completed. That journey should have been a simple 4 hour drive, but since I was denied a self transfer furlough the trip took 30 days, two cross country flights, three states, and cost the tax payer well over $10,000 before I finally arrived a couple hundred miles from where I started.

It took me over a month to decompress after the nightmare that is the BOP transit system (you can read all about it in the next installment of Notes From The Inside) and just as I began to settle in here at FCI McKean we received some terrible news. Yesterday we were told by the Warden that the program I travelled all that way for had been "deactivated" and very soon I - along with 70 others in the program - would have to go through the transit system all over again to be sent somewhere where the program was still active. When I first arrived here other inmates warned me that things were rotten here at McKean. What is supposed to be a 9 month program averages 12-16 months here. One of the DTS officers who runs the program was suspended pending investigation and assigned to the mailroom, and many guys had missed their release dates and were forced to spend longer in prison. Why in the world did the BOP spend all that money transiting me and others to a program that was clearly dying on the vine?!

So now the BOP is going to waste around $700,000 shipping all of us around the country. The ridiculous thing is they do not need to shut the program down at all. They have all the pieces in place to push the current participants through. The frontline staff (case managers, counsellors, DTS, etc) are largely empathetic and competent. The failure is one of institutional mismanagement and leadership. A lack of engagement with staff by Regional and institutional leadership has hamstrung staff and inmate alike. Recognizing those institutional failures would require government workers take accountability or be held accountable. Never going to happen! Instead, the taxpayer will be on the hook financially, we'll be shipped out like cattle, and the yokels who couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery will keep their jobs and find something else to screw up.

@leamuirleyn has written to BOP leadership asking them to reconsider shutting the program down and instead send over a temporary leader who can shepherd the current participants through the program. This would save the Bureau and the taxpayer significantly. It is a longshot but one has to try.

So that is the latest update. I have no idea when or where I am going to be shipped. Thank you everyone for your letters, books, prayers, and continued support. It means a lot. Until we speak again...

Keonne

@realDonaldTrump @OfficialFBOP @BOPDirector @BOPDepDirector @JusticeOIG @MarshallProj @PrisonPolicy

[UNGOVERNABLE 🖕🏴‍☠️ @ungovernables_]

Half a foam mattress.

"It's all we have."

"How the hell am I supposed to sleep on that?"

"Welcome to prison."

Keonne Rodriguez's first night in federal transit.

https://t.co/5QSojPVmES

[Enemies of The State @EOTS_Freedom]

Keonne Rodriguez received five years for a Bitcoin privacy wallet.

Unlicensed money-transmission charges also hit Ian Freeman, Roman Storm, and Roman Sterlingov.

Code is free speech.

[Ross Ulbricht @RealRossU]

These men created tools of freedom and financial independence. They wrote code and ran businesses. They are good people.

They were rewarded with federal prison sentences.

Keonne Rodriguez
William Hill
Ian Freeman
Roman Sterlingov
Roman Storm

Free the crypto prisoners.

[Keonne Rodriguez @keonne]

Ian Freeman is yet another victim of the Biden era "War On Crypto"

It is time for President Trump @realDonaldTrump to undo the carnage that the weaponized Biden DOJ unleashed on innocent innovators

#pardonsamourai
#freeiannow
#freeromanstorm #freeromansterlingov

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🚨 UPDATE: Roman Storm says DOJ is still pursuing his Tornado Cash case after a new SDNY filing, even as FinCEN drops its proposed mixer rule.

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

President Trump publicly stated in December 2025 that he would look into Keonne Rodriguez's possible pardon. 9 months later Keonne remains incarcerated.
@RapidResponse47
@SenMcCormickPA
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

Sign petition now! https://t.co/cDWluKnKVF

#PardonSamourai

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says he will consider a pardon for the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai.

"I've heard about it, I'll look at it. Let's take a look at it."

[Robert Roodhouse @RRoodhouse]

#ImagineIf the United States was a country where #Bitcoin developers like @keonne & Bill were not in prison simply for coding non-custodial privacy solutions.

@maradiaga @JavierElHage @Farida_N

#freeSamourai
#PardonSamourai

[Roman Storm 🇺🇸 🌪️ @rstormsf]

On August 6, 2025, a Manhattan jury found me guilty of one count: conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business under 18 U.S.C. § 1960. They hung on money laundering and sanctions. I have not been sentenced. A motion for acquittal is still pending. Retrial of the hung counts is set for April 26, 2027.

Fifteen days later, on August 21, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said this in a published speech:

"Our view is that merely writing code, without ill-intent, is not a crime."

And: "where the evidence shows that software is truly decentralized and solely automates peer-to-peer transactions, and where a third party does not have custody and control over user assets, new 1960(b)(1)(C) charges against the third-party will not be approved."

"Generally, developers of neutral tools, with no criminal intent, should not be held responsible for someone else's misuse of those tools. If a third-party's misuse violates criminal law, that third-party should be prosecuted — not the well-intentioned developer."

Section 1960 is the statute I was convicted under.

I am not asking anyone to take my word for it. Read the Department's own remarks, then read what happened in my case.

DOJ speech: https://t.co/VfSXgNW47K

#FreeRomanStorm
https://t.co/aCPTvkXT98

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

#FreeRomanStorm

@RapidResponse47
@realDonaldTrump
@POTUS

The War on Crypto is NOT over!

[Roman Storm 🇺🇸 🌪️ @rstormsf]

October 5, 2026
A new letter was filed today by SDNY:
https://t.co/PE1bvvcs9V

The DOJ is still coming after me with everything it has. They really want to see me convicted.

It has been 1,139 days since my nightmare began.
They arrested me when my daughter was just 3 years old, and escorted her out of our home.
She is 6 now, and I don't know how I would ever explain to her that I'm being sent to prison for decades - for writing code.

Meanwhile, today the Department of the Treasury has admitted it was wrong about the mixer rules, citing a "chilling effect on legitimate activity."
Source: https://t.co/LSPO8YAL6L

Yet in my case, the DOJ argued at the April 9, 2026 hearing:
"...even the legitimate transactions that went through Tornado Cash became illegitimate because they also facilitated the criminal ends of the money transmitting of the money laundering and of the sanctions evasion..."
(Docket 290, p.43 https://t.co/G0BGN5WR5K)

The non-criminal branch of the U.S. government says: it's bad policy.
The criminal branch says: every transaction is a crime.

The Crypto War is still being waged against developers and open source, cementing an extremely dangerous precedent in the United States of America.

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

Free the Samourai Wallet developers. That's what really matters.

Sign the petition right now and spread the word!
https://t.co/cDWluKnKVF

@RapidResponse47
@realDonaldTrump
@POTUS
@EagleEdMartin
@SenMcCormickPA
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

#PardonSamourai
#FreeSamourai

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says he will consider a pardon for the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai.

"I've heard about it, I'll look at it. Let's take a look at it."

[UNGOVERNABLE 🖕🏴‍☠️ @ungovernables_]

First night in Oklahoma City transit.

Half a mattress, bare metal, a sheet that smells of motor oil.

He asks his cellmate when the lights go off.

They don't.

https://t.co/5QSojPVmES

[UNGOVERNABLE 🖕🏴‍☠️ @ungovernables_]

Minimum security. Close to two years on pretrial release. Self-surrendered. No incident reports.

He asked to drive himself to his new prison, at his own expense.

Denied without explanation.

https://t.co/5QSojPVmES

[UNGOVERNABLE 🖕🏴‍☠️ @ungovernables_]

The body scanner sticker says stay behind the blue line for your safety.

The officer sits behind a lead curtain.

The prisoners are told to press right up against the machine.

https://t.co/5QSojPVmES

[Uche Marvellous⚡️🔋 @UcheMarvellous6]

Good day, everyone! ☀️🧡

Trust everyone is doing good. Let’s keep the conversation going and continue standing with Samourai and the people behind it.

Every post, every share, every bit of support helps keep the message alive. 🙏

And seeing 0.1 BTC raised is incredible over 5,000,000 sats for the prize pot and the same amount raised to support the Samourai devs and their families. 🧡👏 good work @RMessitt

The generosity from the community has been amazing.

Let’s keep pushing. #FreeSamourai 🤝🧡

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

A brilliant Bitcoin developer is still rotting in a Pennsylvania prison.

Please help move his pardon case forward.
@RapidResponse47
@EagleEdMartin
@SenMcCormickPA
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

Sign the petition now: https://t.co/cDWluKnd67

#PardonSamourai
#FreeSamourai

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says he will consider a pardon for the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai.

"I've heard about it, I'll look at it. Let's take a look at it."

[UNGOVERNABLE 🖕🏴‍☠️ @ungovernables_]

His cellmate is doing twenty years for murder.

Keonne is on his way to a camp for not having a license he didn't need in the first place.

Same cell.

https://t.co/5QSojPVmES

[Bitcoin Runners ⚡️₿🏃‍♀️🏃🏽‍♂️🌋 @BitcoinRunners]

Bill & Keonne built privacy software. They're in prison for writing code.

@POTUS please #PardonSamourai

https://t.co/v7JGU2dUEU

[Silas Thornbrook @SilasThornbrook]

JUSTICE FOR @keonne AND @SamouraiDev

#PardonSamourai DEVELOPERS TODAY!

#FreeSamourai ONCE AND FOR ALL!

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

President Trump publicly stated in December 2025 that he would look into Keonne Rodriguez's possible pardon. 9 months later Keonne remains incarcerated.
@RapidResponse47
@SenMcCormickPA
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

Sign petition now! https://t.co/cDWluKnd67

#PardonSamourai

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 President Trump says he will consider a pardon for the CEO of privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet Samourai.

"I've heard about it, I'll look at it. Let's take a look at it."

[FreeSamourai @PardonSamourai]

#PardonSamourai
#FreeSamourai

@RapidResponse47
@POTUS
@realDonaldTrump
@SenMcCormickPA
@EagleEdMartin
@SenFettermanPA
@CongressmanGT

President Trump promised to consider the issue of a pardon in December 2025!

Sign the petition right now! https://t.co/cDWluKnd67

[TFTC @TFTC21]

Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez just published his latest letter from federal prison, documenting what he calls "the absolute worst 30 days of my life."

Rodriguez was transferred from FPC Morgantown to FCI McKean, a facility four hours away. What should have been a short drive turned into a 30-day ordeal through the Bureau of Prisons transit system.

Two trans-continental flights, three multi-hour bus rides, 23-hour lockdowns behind iron bars, and cell mates ranging from murderers to worse.

He requested a transfer furlough to transport himself at his own expense. Minimum security classification, no incident reports, self-surrendered.

"On June 8th my request was denied without explanation."

Instead he was stripped, searched, shackled at the ankles and cuffed at the wrists, with a chain wrapped around his waist connecting it all together.

"The end result being that you could not lift your arms or hands much higher than your waist, and you could walk only in painful short shuffling steps."

He was loaded onto a Cold War-era plane with safety stickers in German and Russian, flown to the BOP's Oklahoma City transit hub, and packed into a concrete holding cell where inmates immediately began smoking K2 made from rat poison.

The staff at OKC were "breathtaking in their incompetence. Every last officer was less than useless, all of them wearing an expression of bewilderment as to how they happened to stumble into this predicament of dealing with a plane load of convicts, as if normally they were payroll accountants or copy clerks."

This is part one. Rodriguez is serving five years in federal prison for building non-custodial Bitcoin privacy software.

Full letter: https://t.co/X6vhFSq6iF