Roman Storm’s protection staff needs to know if the U.S. Division of Justice is withholding any data that will assist the Twister Money developer’s case.
In a letter filed late Friday, protection attorneys mentioned latest disclosures in one other, considerably related, case raised considerations that prosecutors both misled the choose overseeing the case or in any other case was taking part in “quick and free.”
“The protection just lately discovered that the federal government has possessed exculpatory supplies since August 2023 that go to the center of a elementary challenge on this case: whether or not a noncustodial cryptocurrency mixer is a ‘cash transmitting enterprise’ for functions of 18 U.S.C. § 1960,” the submitting mentioned. “The federal government’s failure to supply these supplies within the fall of 2023, when Roman Storm was indicted and first appeared in court docket, constitutes a Brady violation that has materially prejudiced his protection,” even after the DOJ mentioned it will drop a portion of its case towards Storm.
Learn extra: Conduct Versus Code Might Be the Defining Query in Roman Storm Prosecution
Storm’s staff is referencing the DOJ’s case towards two builders of Samourai Pockets, one other crypto mixer. In that case, protection attorneys mentioned earlier this month that prosecutors delayed sharing that two Monetary Crimes Enforcement Community (FinCEN) officers instructed the DOJ that the mixer didn’t seem like a cash transmitter.
Prosecutors denied the allegations in a court docket submitting, saying their disclosures had been well timed and that the FinCEN officers’ views weren’t formal steering.
The DOJ mentioned the 2 instances are solely “superficially related,” the protection submitting mentioned Friday.
“However what the federal government characterizes as a superficial similarity is, actually, the core characteristic that lies on the coronary heart of the conflicting interpretations of FinCEN steering and the scope of Part 1960:
the noncustodial nature of each protocols,” the submitting mentioned. “That customers exercised sole management over their belongings was a foundation for Mr. Storm’s movement to dismiss and to compel discovery of FinCEN supplies.”
The protection is asking Decide Katherine Polk Failla, who’s overseeing the case, to order the DOJ to assessment any supplies it might have that would assist Storm’s case and share the paperwork referenced within the Samourai case, in addition to when Storm’s prosecutors discovered about these supplies.
