They chose to plead guilty instead of fighting the allegedly bogus charges
Even under the new DOJ guidance for developers, the prosecutors would have easily proved mens rea:
In a 2018 WhatsApp chat, Rodriguez called mixing “money laundering for Bitcoin.” Hill allegedly promoted the service on dark web forums, claiming it would “clean dirty Bitcoin”
They chose to plead guilty instead of fighting the allegedly bogus charges
Even under the new DOJ guidance for developers, the prosecutors would have easily proved mens rea: