Co -founders of the Samourai wallet claim that US Federal prosecutors hid the legal opinion of the Ministry of Finance for more than a year, which could humiliate the government case against the service of the Government.
The allegations made in a letter to the Manhattan Federal Court on Monday confirmed that prosecutors accused Samourai's leaders of the unlicensed money transfer business management, despite the fact that regulators told them that the license was not necessary.
Keanne Rodriguez, CEO of Samourai Wallet and CEO of CTO CTO, was filed in crimes in crimes in April 2024, two months after the government first performed criminal charges.
The Ministry of Justice accused them of dealing with an unlicensed money transfer and washing of illegal funds of over $ 100 million. Their legal team now claims that evidence was detained, violating their rights and making the case illegal.
Fincen said no license needed
Defendants believe that prosecutors submitted a criminal expenditure Six months later, leaving Fincen's legal interpretation of the initial disclosure.
”Not disclosure damaged our customers' ability to search for bail, prepare their defense and continue to be early dismissal“Standing in the presentation.
The defendants have applied for an official hearing to investigate what they call Brady's violation, referring to the constitutional claim that prosecutors must disclose favorable evidence.
At their submission of May 5, the defendants' lawyers claimed that the suppression of evidence was not trivial. They quoted Fincen's interpretation of the Samourai Sentiment to conform to the fact that the software of the non -advertising wallet without advertising did not qualify as a cash transmitter under US law.
Rodriguez and Hill asked for a draft of their innocence
Samourai co -founders had previously addressed regulatory problems in public forums years before their accusation. On July 12, 2021, Rodriguez announced in a podcasting show that coinjoin, the technique used to anonymize Samourai transactions, was legal and did not belong to transmission laws unless the money was not financial.
”Users have the right to use this type of tool. It's just a collaboration. If you offer Coinjoin services and take custody, you are a money sender and you better have a money transfer license“He crossed him.
He reiterated this position on January 30, 2022, claiming that Fincen and other regulators had consistently said that non -advertising wallet developers would not be subject to MSB licensing.
“We do not convey money,” Rodriguez said at the time, later on that the legal opinion of Fincen's employees also mentioned in their internal discussions.
The defense team claims that if Fincen was of the opinion that Samourai was outside its regulatory durability, the prosecutor's office had no basis for compliance with criminal charges. ”It is difficult to imagine a clearer example of the accusation regulating,'' The letter continued.
On April 30, Defense demanded that the government draw up a documentation explaining why Fincen had never had a call before. Two days later, on May 2, the government submitted some E -letters from August 2023, but refused to share internal discussions discussing the delay.
Prosecutors have not yet explained about the suppression of the year and has led to the hearing of Rodriguez and Hill to determine the circumstances of the delayed disclosure.
Doj's legal contradiction after political changes
On April 7, Prosecutor's Deputy Prosecutor, Todd Blanche, issued a memorandum entitled “Order of the Prosecutor's Office”. Memo direction prosecutors to avoid the use of criminal accusation for digital assets to establish regulatory frameworks, especially “drum and mixing services”, such as those controlled By Samourai's wallet.
In the original accusation of the Ministry of Justice alleged The fact that Samourai facilitated over $ 2 billion cryptocurrencies through the mixing service, with more than $ 100 million from criminal action from Darknet's marketplaces and web fraud. Rodriguez and Hill admitted that they are not guilty of all the accusations.
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