Steven Nelayoff, an early advisor to the Ethereum network, has filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. government for $9.6 billion in damages related to his 2019 arrest on extortion charges, but his attorney called this a “fabrication” and “baseless.”
Nelayoff Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) shapewas provided to CoinDesk by an attorney and is the first step in filing a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ). FTCA litigation requires the relevant agencies to be notified of the plaintiff's intent to sue at least six months before formal litigation is filed.
Prominent civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz confirmed Wednesday that he will serve as a consultant on constitutional issues in Nereyov's case.
government Charges against Nereyov were dropped. Two months earlier, prosecutors moved to close the case, acknowledging that they had obtained important exculpatory evidence but could not prove the charges in the indictment beyond a reasonable doubt. Mr. Nelayov's lawyers had earlier filed a motion to dismiss, packed with explosive allegations against federal agents and prosecutors involved in the case.
Nereyov and his lawyers argue that he was the victim of an elaborate, years-long operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with the ultimate goal of forcing key figures in the cryptocurrency industry to turn over evidence. There is.
The FBI did not respond to CoinDesk's request for comment by the time of publication.
On the morning of September 17, 2019, Nereyov claimed he was arrested in an unmarked van parked outside his home by more than a dozen FBI agents armed with guns and questioned for “hours.” . Nereyov said investigators told him that unless he cooperated with information, he would not be able to “watch my minor children grow old.”
In its own filing, the government denied most of Nereyov's claims, including that his colleague and former co-defendant on racketeering charges, Michael Haredi, was a government informant. Nelayov's lawyers claim that Hradi, who was convicted in 2010 of defrauding a Catholic nun of about $400,000, was “instigated to…” [his] The FBI created a “trajectory” to help build the case against Neleyoff.
2021, Hlady plead guilty But last month, the government dropped the charges against Nereyov, allowing him to withdraw his guilty plea and instead having him plead guilty to one count of wire fraud in a scheme unrelated to Nereyov. He was committed while on bail.
