Today, Samourai Wallet developers Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill appeared together in court in the Southern District of New York for a conference call.
This was the first time the two had appeared together in public since the US Department of Justice issued a joint statement. The developers accused the two Conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter business in April 2024. It was also the first time either had appeared in court since Hill appeared before bail in July and Rodriguez attended his first court hearing in May.
The prosecution spoke to the court first, noting that it had produced “huge batches of discoveries”.
The first batch of data was made available to the defense in mid-June 2024. This batch included business records, emails, and social media account information, among other data.
The second batch, made available to the defense in mid-August 2024, included data extractions from devices the Justice Department seized from developers. The Justice Department extracted information from 15 of the 44 devices seized from Rodriguez and 25 of the 27 devices seized from Hill.
The prosecution also said it would produce a third batch of discovery containing a “relatively modest” amount of data soon and was ready to move forward with the trial.
No evidence of money transfer
Rodriguez’s attorney said it was too early to set a trial date, as the defense had not yet reviewed all available discovery in mid-August 2024. The defense also said it had not yet found any evidence showing that Rodriguez or Hill was operating an unlicensed money transfer business.
Hill’s attorney stated that they received 8 terabytes of data. To put that amount of data into context, he explained that this is equivalent to 75% of the information in the Library of Congress, and if one printed this information, one could stack the paper it was printed on “to the moon and back 22 times,” suggesting that it would be difficult to sort through and review.
Hill’s attorney also noted that Letter from Senators Cynthia Lummis (R) and Ron Wyden (D) The lawmakers said the Justice Department’s unprecedented interpretation of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Act on operating unlicensed money transmitting businesses contradicts the intent of the rule. For this reason, they proposed a motion to dismiss the charge.
The judge denied that request and set a follow-up hearing for December 17, 2024 at 10 a.m. ET.
Rodriguez’s Motion to Modify Bail
In the second part of the conference, Rodriguez’s attorney requested two changes to Rodriguez’s bail conditions. He asked the court to lift Rodriguez’s house arrest order, and to modify restrictions on Rodriguez’s ability to transact in cryptocurrencies, some of which were proceeds from Samurai. (Zach Shapiro, Legal Fellow at Samurai Research Center, 1995). Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) He later explained to me that the Second Amendment was required in part so that Rodriguez could use the Bitcoin proceeds from Samurai to pay his legal fees.)
Rodriguez’s attorney argued that the house arrest was “unnecessarily restrictive” and “unnecessary,” and that Rodriguez did not pose a threat to his life. The defense also cited two instances in which Rodriguez had the opportunity to escape but failed to do so in its attempts to prove that Rodriguez no longer needed to wear the location monitoring device.
The prosecution responded to the request by arguing that Rodriguez’s home confinement was necessary to ensure that Rodriguez could continue to appear in court. It also stated that the charges against Rodriguez for running a “cryptocurrency money laundering operation” were severe and that Rodriguez could face a possible sentence of up to 25 years.
Prosecutors went on to cite evidence from handwritten pages they obtained from Rodriguez’s home detailing how he fled the country to a jurisdiction from which it would be difficult to extradite him. The information included a list of various passports, as well as $10,000 in cash, a cellphone, an unused SIM card, and various mnemonic phrases for crypto assets, among other things.
Rodriguez’s attorney claimed that this plan applied to what Rodriguez would have done in a public emergency, while the prosecution claimed that this was Rodriguez’s current escape plan.
The prosecutor said it was a “very good plan” and that it did not believe it was appropriate to stop monitoring Rodriguez at this time. However, the prosecutor said it would consider allowing Rodriguez some freedoms if a petition was filed, without providing any details.
The judge did not allow the bail conditions to be modified and asked the prosecution and defense to “move on with the case.”
Donate to the Rodriguez and Hill Legal Defense Fund via BPI P2P Rights Fund.