Right this moment, the Southern District of New York (SDNY) hosted a last standing convention listening to for the Twister Money case, the trial for which begins this Monday, 7/14.
The listening to was held nearly, and attendees included Decide Katherine Polk Failla (the choose presiding over the trial), Twister Money co-founder Roman Storm, and members of the protection and prosecution.
Storm is dealing with three prices: conspiracy to commit cash laundering, conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, and conspiracy to commit sanctions violations.
The primary matters mentioned within the listening to included:
the grounds for the New York court docket turning into the venue for the trial
Storm’s affect over a Bloomberg reporter who reported on Twister Money in March 2020
whether or not or not all actions by the Twister Money co-founders and builders to maintain Twister Money working furthered the conspiracies in Storm’s indictment
the admissibility of the info extracted from Twister Money co-founder Alexey Pertsev’s telephone
how Decide Failla plans to focus extra on how Storm ran a for-profit enterprise than the small print of the Twister Money’s crypto mixing software program itself
Earlier than participating on these matters, Decide Failla shared some key particulars concerning the trial’s proceedings.
Particulars concerning the Trial
The trial will start Monday morning at 9:30 AM EST, and one of many first gadgets on the docket is jury choice.
Decide Failla famous that the trial is not going to be recorded, broadcasted, or rebroadcasted. (I’ll be there to cowl most, if not all, of it, although!)
She additionally acknowledged that she’d prefer to see the trial concluded inside three weeks, although she added that she doesn’t assume it will likely be and that she could must take a while off from the trial in early August to have a good time her sick mom’s birthday.
What’s extra, Decide Failla acknowledged that opening statements received’t be made till Tuesday, 7/15.
Why the Twister Money Trial Is Being Held within the SDNY
Based on the prosecution, the trial is continuing within the SDNY as a result of Storm operated an internet site that facilitated Twister Money transactions from New York Metropolis for a time frame.
The prosecution argued that Storm additionally regularly communicated with one of many enterprise capital (VC) principals who funded Twister Money and who was additionally based mostly in New York Metropolis on the time.
The prosecution added that Storm made frequent requests from this VC principal and that the requests weren’t solely associated to funding.
Storm ‘Corrected’ a Bloomberg Reporter
The prosecution defined how, in March 2020, Storm contacted a Bloomberg reporter who’d written a narrative on Twister Money to get the reporter to alter the story in order that the protection wouldn’t have the authorities understand Twister Money in a adverse gentle.
They argued that Storm’s talking with the reporter and convincing stated reporter to change the story “made the story inaccurate.”
The protection pushed again, stating that Storm solely contacted the reporter to make sure that “acceptable corrections” have been made to the story.
Storm didn’t converse to this matter within the listening to.
All in Furtherance of the Charged Conspiracies?
The prosecution floated the notion that the entire efforts that Storm and his co-founders made in working their for-profit enterprise that utilized the Twister Money know-how furthered the entire conspiracies with which Storm has been charged.
One of many efforts that the prosecution cited was Storm and his co-founders encouraging U.S.-based Twister Money customers to make use of the service, thereby creating a much bigger pool of capital for the cash that North Korean hackers put via the software program to combine with (making it simpler for the funds to be anonymized).
The choose pushed again because the prosecution made this argument, asking the prosecution to make clear whether or not or not it it believed that something the Twister Money co-founders did to maintain their enterprise afloat furthered the conspiracies with which Storm has been charged.
This gave the prosecution pause, and, on this second, one of many protection attorneys moved to dismiss the indictment in opposition to Storm as a consequence of a scarcity of venue.
The choose rapidly denied the movement earlier than claiming that such a request had pissed off her a lot in order that it was inflicting her to “escape in hives.”
Graykey Progress Report
All through the listening to, Decide Failla introduced up the Graykey information extraction from Alexey Pertsev’s telephone. (Pertsev was sentenced to 5 years in jail within the Netherlands for his involvement with Twister Money.)
Towards the latter a part of the listening to, she requested each the prosecution and protection if they’d questions on Pertsev’s telephone after which raised questions on whether or not or not the info extracted from Pertsev’s telephone is admissible. She determined to defer her choice on the matter till trial.
She then requested that each the prosecution and protection assessment the info in query in addition to the method by which it was obtained and put together to answer the difficulty in the course of the trial.
Specializing in the Entrance Finish
Decide Failla was clear that a minimum of the start of the trial will not be going to be centered on Twister Money as a mixing service, however extra on the web site, the front-end interface, that Storm created to facilitate transactions by way of the Twister Money software program.
“[We’re] not going to consider crypto mixing,” stated the choose.
Nevertheless, she did say that she was ready for a response from the protection about what she had written and submitted to the court docket about crypto mixing companies.
Witnesses and Motions In Limine
Except for the problems above, the listening to’s attendees mentioned the witnesses within the case and the supplemental motions in limine (those who aren’t made public earlier than or throughout a trial as a result of they’re irrelevant, prejudicial, or inadmissible).
Not one of the names of the witnesses have been disclosed within the listening to, although, the prosecution talked about that “witness #1” had not too long ago been recognized and that they’d interviewed this witness.
The choose acknowledged the protection’s request to exclude sure supplies associated to witness #1.
A number of motions in limine have been mentioned. Throughout this portion of the listening to, the choose knowledgeable the prosecution that the witnesses shouldn’t do issues reminiscent of talk about the emotional stress they endured from having the funds they put via Twister Money frozen.
As a substitute, she stated that she desire witnesses who have been victims of getting their funds frozen share whether or not or not they reached out to the Twister Money crew in efforts to have their funds unfrozen.
What Wasn’t Mentioned
At no level throughout immediately’s listening to was it introduced up that the U.S. Treasury Division’s Workplace of Overseas Asset Management (OFAC) has eliminated Twister Money from it’s sanctions listing, nor {that a} court docket not too long ago dropped Coin Middle’s enchantment to OFAC concerning this matter.
