Today, Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill appeared together in court in the Southern District of New York for a status conference.
I participated in the status conference for the #Samourai case today on behalf of @BitcoinMagazine.
Here’s where things stand: pic.twitter.com/MGVlV6LnJK
— Frank Corva (@frankcorva) September 17, 2024
This was the very first time the 2 made a public look together given that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) charged the 2 developers with conspiracy to devote cash laundering and conspiracy to run an unlicensed cash sending service in April 2024. It was also the very first time either of them have appeared in court given that Hill appeared ahead of his bail release in July and Rodriguez first participated in a court hearing in May.
The prosecution resolved the court first, mentioning that it had actually produced “voluminous batches of discovery.”
It made the first batch offered to the defense in mid-June 2024. This batch included service records, e-mails and social networks account details among other information.
The 2nd batch, which it provided to the defense in mid-August 2024, included information extractions from the gadgets that the DoJ took from the 2 developers. The DoJ has actually drawn out details from 15 of the 44 gadgets took from Rodriguez and 25 of the 27 gadgets took from Hill.
The prosecution also specified that it would produce a 3rd batch of discovery consisting of a “relatively modest” quantity of information quickly which it was prepared to continue with trial.
No Evidence Of Money Transmission
Rodriguez’s lawyer made the case that it was early to set a trial date, as the defense has yet to examine all of the discovery provided in mid-August 2024. The defense also stated that it has yet to come throughout any proof revealing that Rodriguez or Hill ran an unlicensed cash sending service.
Hill’s lawyer specified that they’ve gotten 8 terabytes worth of discovery. To put this quantity of information in context, he discussed that this was the equivalent of 75% of the quantity of details in the Library of Congress which, if one printed this details, one might stack the paper it was printed on “to the moon and back 22 times,” making the point that it would be difficult to arrange through and evaluation.
Hill’s lawyer also referenced the letter from Senators Cynthia Lummis (R) and Ron Wyden (D) in which the legislators specified that the DoJ’s extraordinary analysis of the United States Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) statute relating to running an unlicensed cash sending service opposes the intent of the guideline. For this factor, he proposed a movement to dismiss the charge.
The judge rejected this demand and arranged a follow-up hearing for December 17, 2024 at 10 AM ET.
Rodriguez’s Request For Bail Modifications
In the 2nd part of the conference, Rodriguez’s legal representative asked for 2 adjustments to Rodriguez’s bail conditions. He asked for that the court eliminate Rodriguez’s home detention required which the court customize constraints on Rodriguez’s capability to negotiate with cryptocurrency, a few of which was profits from Samourai. (Zack Shapiro, Legal Fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) later on discussed to me that the 2nd adjustment was asked for in part so that Rodriguez might utilize bitcoin follows Samourai to spend for legal charges.)
Rodriguez’s lawyer argued that home detention was “unduly restrictive” and “unnecessary,” which Rodriguez isn’t a flight threat. The defense also mentioned 2 circumstances in which Rodriguez had the chance to run away however didn’t in its efforts to make the case that Rodriguez no longer required to use a place tracking gadget.
The prosecution pressed back, arguing that Rodriguez’s home detention was essential to make sure that Rodriguez continued to stand for trial. It also specified that the charges being imposed versus Rodriguez for running a “cryptocurrency money laundering business” were serious which Rodriguez was possibly dealing with a prospective sentence of approximately 25 years.
The prosecution went on to point out proof from handwritten pages that it had actually acquired from Rodriguez’s home consisting of information about how he would run away the nation to a jurisdiction from which it would be tough to extradite him. This details consisted of a list consisting of various passports in addition to having $10,000 in money, a burner phone, an unused SIM card, and numerous mnemonic expressions for crypto possessions among other products.
Rodriguez’s legal representative argued that this strategy used to what Rodriguez would carry out in the case of a more basic emergency situation, while the prosecution argued that this was Rodriguez’s present escape strategy.
The prosecution specified that it was “a pretty good plan” which it doesn’t feel that it’s proper to stop keeping track of Rodriguez at this time. However, the prosecution did state that it would think about permitting Rodriguez particular flexibilities if petitioned, without consisting of any specifics.
The judge didn’t permit the adjustment of the bail conditions and asked both the prosecution and the defense to “get moving on the case.”
Donate to the legal defense fund for Rodriguez and Hill by means of BPI’s P2P Rights Fund.
Thank you for visiting our site. You can get the latest Information and Editorials on our site regarding bitcoins.
