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Prosecutors successful the lawsuit against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm are attempting to to sidestep the anticipation that a New York justice forces them to manus implicit further grounds that could assistance Storm's case.
In a Wednesday missive to the court, prosecutors pushed backmost against Storm’s lawyers’ assertions that they’d failed to conscionable their alleged Brady obligations — a law request for prosecutors to crook implicit immoderate perchance adjuvant grounds to the defence earlier trial.
At the bosom of the statement is simply a caller accumulation of grounds successful different lawsuit successful the Southern District of New York (SDNY): the ineligible pursuit of Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. Both cases impact a crypto mixing work that prosecutors allege was knowingly utilized to launder transgression proceeds,
In the Samourai Wallet case, however, prosecutors precocious admitted to having a speech with 2 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) officials successful 2023 — earlier pressing charges — successful which the authorities employees said they didn’t judge the mixing work would suffice arsenic a wealth transmitting concern nether their guidelines and didn’t request a licence to operate. Lawyers for Rodriguez and Hill accused prosecutors of suppressing captious grounds and violating their close to owed process. Last week, the justice overseeing the lawsuit denied their question for a proceeding connected the matter, telling them alternatively to see their concerns successful their pre-trial question owed astatine the extremity of the month.
Though the cases are separate, lawyers for Roman Storm expressed interest that the prosecution’s nonaccomplishment to pass them of their communications with FinCEN regarding Samourai Wallet’s presumption arsenic a wealth transmitting concern besides perchance constituted a Brady usurpation successful Storm’s case.
In their Wednesday response, prosecutors said that the FinCEN speech wasn’t evidence.t was an opinion, not a fact, they stated, and truthful not required to beryllium turned implicit to the defense. Prosecutors besides claimed that their treatment with FinCEN was irrelevant to Storm’s case, due to the fact that it wasn’t specifically astir Tornado Cash.
“Tornado Cash simply was not portion of the conversation,” prosecutors wrote. “While Samourai Wallet and the Tornado Cash work whitethorn stock immoderate superficial similarities, they operated rather differently.”
Prosecutors said that they didn’t person akin conversations with FinCEN astir Tornado Cash, claiming that determination were “no specified interactions comparable to those described successful the Rodriguez Disclosures.”
“As the authorities has repeatedly explained to the defence successful this case, the authorities has neither sought nor obtained an sentiment from immoderate worker astatine FinCEN — oregon immoderate different authorities bureau — regarding whether the Tornado Cash work is taxable to registration obligations,” prosecutors wrote. “Such an sentiment — particularly an informal sentiment offered by employees who expressly disclaim to beryllium speaking for the bureau — would not beryllium legally admissible and would not represent Brady material.”
The lawsuit against Storm is expected to statesman connected July 14 successful New York.
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