Lawyers for Steven Nerayoff, who founded the blockchain consulting company Alchemist, claim that federal agents trumped up charges against their client in 2019. An early Ethereum contributor was arrested on charges of extorting 10,000 ETH from a cryptocurrency startup.
The ensuing legal battle lasted about four years and ended when the US government dismissed the lawsuit in May 2023. Nerayoff's defense claims that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) knew that the charges against him were “factually and legally unfounded.”
“Federal agents launched a frantic and illegal four-year fight against Nerayoff. Their unlawful actions caused great harm to our client’s financial well-being, personal life and career,” the lawyers stated in the complaint.
The defense clarified that the trial had a bad impact on Nerayoff's reputation, and his losses are estimated at about $10 billion. Nerayoff's business partners refused to cooperate with him, which is why he lost the opportunity to earn several billion dollars during the bull trend in the cryptocurrency market, including hundreds of millions of dollars from consulting contracts.
Last year, Nerayoff accused Ethereum co-founders Vitalik Buterin and Joe Lubin of fraud that was larger than the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Previously, Nerayoff suggested that the attack by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could have been sponsored by participants in the initial Ethereum ICO.
Source: Bits
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