Defendant’s Brother Convicted of Running the Money Laundering Service Helix

            WASHINGTON – Gary James Harmon, 31, of Cleveland, Ohio, pleaded guilty today to perpetrating a scheme to steal cryptocurrency that was pending criminal forfeiture from Harmon’s brother, now-convicted money launderer and proprietor of Grams-Helix, Larry Dean Harmon.  Specifically, Harmon pleaded guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of justice for unlawfully taking more than 712 bitcoin that had been seized by law enforcement and was subject to forfeiture in the pending criminal prosecution of Larry Harmon.

            The plea was announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Darrell J. Waldon, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Divisions.

            The wire fraud charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison; the obstruction of justice charge carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  U.S. District Court Chief Judge Howell scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 17, 2023. 

            According to court documents, in February 2020, the defendant’s brother, Larry Harmon, was arrested for his operation of Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency money laundering service, known as a “mixer” or “tumbler.” As Harmon later admitted, Helix laundered over 350,000…