{"id":129055,"date":"2025-05-12T07:20:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T07:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129055"},"modified":"2025-05-12T07:20:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T07:20:52","slug":"feds-deny-late-disclosure-of-evidence-in-samourai-wallet-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=129055","title":{"rendered":"Feds deny late disclosure of evidence in Samourai Wallet case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsUS federal prosecutors have rebutted claims they suppressed evidence in their case against the co-founders of the crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet, arguing their disclosure of a conversation with Treasury Department staff was made within the required timeframes.\u00a0
\nIn a May 9 letter to a Manhattan federal court, prosecutors opposed a request for a hearing, claiming they handed over \u201call known substantive communications\u201d between them and the Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) regarding Samourai \u201cmonths in advance of pretrial motions and trial.\u201d
\n\u201cThe defendants will have seven months to make use of the information before trial,\u201d they wrote. \u201cNothing more is warranted.\u201d
\nOn May 5, Samourai co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Hill asked the court for a hearing, claiming that prosecutors were late to disclose that FinCEN representatives told them six months before they charged the pair that under the agency\u2019s guidance, the service \u201cwould not qualify as a \u2018Money Services Business\u2019 requiring a FinCEN license.\u201d
\nHowever, prosecutors still charged the pair in February 2024 with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy, unsealing the charges and arresting the pair in April that year. They have both pleaded not guilty.
\nIn their letter, prosecutors argued they \u201cacted in good faith\u201d in disclosing the \u201ccontents of this informal conversation\u201d between them and Kevin O\u2019Connor, the chief of FinCEN\u2019s Virtual Assets and Emerging Technology Section in the Enforcement and Compliance Division, and Policy Division staffer Lorena Valente.
\nA highlighted excerpt of the prosecutors\u2019 letter arguing that they disclosed a discussion with FinCEN on time and the discussion was an \u201cinformal conversation.\u201d Source: PACERThey claimed O\u2019Connor and Valente\u2019s comments were \u201ctheir individual, informal, and caveated opinion\u201d on whether Samourai would need to register as a money transmitter under FinCEN regulations.
\nFinCEN \u201cdid not have a sense\u201d of broaching Samourai
\nThe prosecutor\u2019s letter noted that an email from one of the prosecutors summarizing the August 2023 call with FinCEN said that because Samourai doesn\u2019t take custody of the crypto, it \u201cwould strongly suggest that Samourai is NOT acting as an MSB [money services business].\u201d
\nHowever, it noted FinCEN staff \u201cdid not have a sense of what FinCEN would decide if this question were presented to their FinCEN policy committee.\u201d
\nAn excerpt of an email from prosecutor Andrew Chan said FinCEN \u201cdid not have a sense\u201d of what it would decide on Samourai. Source: CourtListenerSamourai\u2019s lawyers had claimed that the call showed Rodriguez and Hill \u201cwere not money transmitters under FinCEN\u2019s guidance\u201d and that they \u201ccould not possibly be prosecuted for not having a license.\u201d
\nThe Samourai co-founders had bid to dismiss the case in April, pointing to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche\u2019s memo released that month saying the Justice Department wouldn\u2019t prosecute crypto mixers for \u201cunwitting violations of regulations.\u201d\u00a0
\nIn their letter, prosecutors addressed the memo, arguing the court \u201cshould not consider\u201d it, as the memo states it \u201cmay not be relied upon to create any right or benefit\u201d against the US or its departments.
\nLegal Panel: XRP win leaves Ripple a \u2018bad actor\u2019 with no crypto legal precedent set\u00a0Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsUS federal prosecutors have rebutted claims they suppressed evidence in their case against the co-founders of the crypto mixing service Samourai Wallet, arguing their disclosure of a conversation… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129055"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}