The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), acting at the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), sold approximately 57.55 bitcoin in early November 2025 that had been forfeited as part of the criminal case involving Samourai Wallet. The transaction, carried out via Coinbase Prime on Nov. 3, was valued at roughly $6.3 million at the time of sale.
The bitcoin was forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill as part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. However, the sale has raised questions about whether the government action complied with Executive Order 14233, signed earlier this year by Donald Trump.
Under EO 14233, bitcoin obtained through criminal or civil forfeiture proceedings is required to be retained by the federal government and allocated to the newly established U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR), rather than liquidated on the open market.
The order was designed to treat bitcoin as a long-term strategic asset, similar to gold reserves, and to prevent routine sell-offs of seized digital assets.
If confirmed, the sale by the USMS could represent a direct conflict with the executive order.
Observers note that responsibility may ultimately lie with the Southern District of New York (SDNY), the federal judicial district overseeing the Samourai Wallet case, depending on how forfeiture instructions were interpreted and implemented.
Critics argue that ambiguity or resistance at the agency level could undermine the administration’s stated policy of accumulating bitcoin for strategic purposes.
This is not the first time questions have been raised about whether federal agencies are fully aligned with new digital asset directives. In past cases, seized bitcoin has often been auctioned or sold to reduce custody risks and administrative complexity, a practice now explicitly discouraged under EO 14233.
The DOJ and USMS have not publicly commented on whether the transaction violated the executive order. As scrutiny grows, the incident may prompt further clarification on how forfeited crypto assets should be handled and whether additional oversight is needed to ensure compliance with the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve framework.