Twister Money co-founder Roman Storm’s attorneys may ask for a mistrial over a authorities witness they declare had nothing to do with the crypto mixer.
Storm’s defence floated the thought of a mistrial with Manhattan federal decide Katherine Polk Failla on Monday, questioning the testimony of presidency witness Hanfeng Lin on Tuesday, Interior Metropolis Press reported.
If allowed, a mistrial ruling would see Storm’s trial thought of invalid resulting from a judicial error — which on this case might be proof that ought to have been excluded — and it might be dismissed in its entirety or retried with a brand new decide and jury.
Storm is going through as much as 45 years in jail after being charged in 2023 with cash laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to violate US sanctions, and conspiring to run an unlicensed cash laundering enterprise in reference to Twister Money, the crypto mixing service he co-founded.
He was charged alongside fellow co-founder Roman Semenov, who has not appeared in courtroom and is believed to be in his native Russia.
Authorities witness recounts crypto rip-off
Lin, the federal government’s witness, took the stand on Tuesday and delivered an affidavit on how she was conned out of $190,000 by a crypto romance scammer over WhatsApp.
In keeping with reporter David Morris, Lin was approached on-line by an individual in 2022 who satisfied her to purchase Bitcoin (BTC) by means of a crypto change and withdraw it to a purported buying and selling website which falsely confirmed she was making excessive returns, which enticed her to ship extra.
She stated her funds had been stolen, and the crypto restoration service Payback informed her that a few of her Bitcoin was despatched by means of Twister Money.
“Based mostly on our analysis over the weekend, we are able to’t discover that any of Ms. Lin’s funds went to Twister Money,” Storm’s lawyer David Patton stated, in accordance with Interior Metropolis Press. “We have to talk to Mr. Storm about transferring for a mistrial.”
Authorities skilled says he didn’t take a look at Lin’s case
Information outlet The Rage reported that Storm’s attorneys cross-examined authorities crypto tracing skilled FBI Particular Agent Joseph DeCapua, who stated he had not been informed to investigate Lin’s transactions.
DeCapua had beforehand testified to element the alleged circulation of crypto from hacks and into Twister Money. Storm’s lawyer Patton stated the defence anticipated him to attach Lin’s flows to the protocol, however “apparently he hasn’t.”
Prosecutors reportedly stated they’d name in IRS analyst Stephan George, one other crypto tracing skilled, to indicate Lin’s funds touched Twister Money.
Crypto sleuths forged doubt on Lin’s testimony
It’s not identified what analysis Storm’s defence group carried out, however blockchain researchers lately claimed on social media that onchain transactions tied to Lin’s scammers present the funds by no means touched Twister Money.
Associated: What you’ll want to find out about Roman Storm’s Twister Money trial
MetaMask safety researcher Taylor Monahan posted on X on Friday that Lin’s scammers didn’t use Twister Money, and detailed how she traced Lin’s funds.
Monahan stated the scammers swapped Lin’s Bitcoin for Ether (ETH) and the transaction was bundled onchain with others that Payback, the crypto tracing agency Lin employed, mistakenly famous as originating from the scammer.
Blockchain analyst ZachXBT additionally agreed with Monahan’s conclusion and criticized Payback’s evaluation.
“[I don’t know] the way you mess up the tracing that unhealthy as a agency to the place you couldn’t correctly comply with immediate change deposits 1 hop from a theft tackle after which comply with subsequent txns down the mistaken path to Twister [Cash], ZachXBT wrote.
Journal: Twister Money 2.0 — The race to construct protected and authorized coin mixers
