Prosecutors within the prison trial of Twister Money co-founder and developer Roman Storm rested their case on Thursday, opening the door for protection counsel to name an Ethereum core developer as its first witness.
In line with reporting by Inside Metropolis Press on Thursday from the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York, Ethereum core developer Preston Van Loon testified in Storm’s protection case, which is anticipated to final a few week. The developer reportedly described Twister Money as a “privateness device for Ethereum” and mentioned he had used the blending service 4 instances to ship a mixed 43 Ether (ETH) in 2019 or 2020, citing security considerations.
“If [hackers] know the scope of my property I can turn into a goal,” mentioned Van Loon, in keeping with reporting from the courtroom.
Prosecutors’ cross-examination of Van Loon was largely confined to questions on any private connections to Storm and whether or not he used a “regular crypto platform like Coinbase.” Storm’s legal professionals reportedly mentioned on Wednesday that they deliberate to name “two or three medical doctors” to testify, and presumably somebody from Chainalysis.
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Van Loon’s testimony marked the ninth day of Storm’s prison trial, by which he faces prices of cash laundering, conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitter, and conspiracy to violate US sanctions associated to his function at Twister Money.
The Ethereum core developer had already been a party to a lawsuit towards the US Treasury over its sanctions towards the crypto mixing service’s good contract addresses.
Storm nonetheless faces jail time
With the protection anticipated to wrap up its case inside two weeks, Storm’s legal professionals made one other submitting on Thursday, requesting that the decide modify the jury directions to make clear info on Twister Money and the North Korean hackers, the Lazarus Group.
Storm doubtlessly faces years in jail if convicted. Decide Katherine Failla reportedly said on Monday that she was conscious of the costs in different crypto-related instances, together with that of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years after being discovered responsible of seven felony prices.
Alexey Pertsev, one of many three Twister Money co-founders and builders, was sentenced to greater than 5 years in jail in 2024. He was discovered responsible of cash laundering within the Netherlands.
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