Twister Money co-founder Roman Storm’s legal professionals have signaled that they could request a quick delay in his upcoming legal trial if a decide permits testimony from a hacker who allegedly used the platform, in keeping with July 10 court docket filings.
In a submitting with the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, Storm’s protection group requested to exclude the unnamed witness, arguing prosecutors disclosed the person after the agreed deadline.
The witness is described because the perpetrator of an alleged hack who laundered funds via the Ethereum-based mixer to obscure trails.
In response to the protection:
“[The testimony] can be unfairly prejudicial as it will doubtless confuse and mislead the jurors into believing that Mr. Storm was concerned within the underlying purported hack or meant to facilitate it, which isn’t true.”
Storm’s attorneys argued the testimony might provoke “an offended response” from jurors, unfairly impacting their notion of the defendant. They reserved the correct to hunt a continuance if the court docket denies the movement to exclude.
Storm’s trial is ready to start on July 14, almost two years after he was indicted on expenses of cash laundering, conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitter, and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions. The decide is anticipated to rule on the witness motions by the top of this week.
Federal prosecutors have referred to as a number of witnesses “victims” of Twister Money-enabled crimes. In a June put up on social media, Storm mentioned:
“SDNY is attempting to crush me, blocking each professional witness. If I lose, DeFi dies with me.”
The developer has obtained sturdy assist from the crypto group, together with Paradigm founder Matt Huang, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and the Ethereum Basis. Supporters have contributed significantly to his authorized protection and argued that writing code shouldn’t be criminalized.
Alexey Pertsev, one other Twister Money co-founder, was sentenced to over 5 years in jail within the Netherlands in 2024 for cash laundering. Roman Semenov, additionally named in Storm’s indictment, stays at massive, with studies suggesting he could also be in hiding in Russia.
Storm’s trial is scheduled to start with jury choice on Monday earlier than Decide Katherine Failla.
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