May 24, 2023
Tor Ekeland & Mike Hassard are defence attorneys representing a Swedish-Russian national, Roman Sterlingov, arrested in early 2021 by the IRS at LAX. He was accused of creating and operating the Bitcoin Fog mixing service to launder over $300 million. He had his assets seized and was incarcerated. He’s awaiting trial. Tor and Mike are still trying to find corroborating evidence. But they’ve uncovered conflicts of interest within the DoJ.
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Roman Sterlingov has been accused of running Bitcoin Fog, a Bitcoin mixer, and laundering $334 million. On a prima facie basis it seems like a case of the state acting to crack down on nefarious darknet activities. But, delve deeper, as Roman’s lawyers Tor Ekeland & Mike Hassard have done, and it raises serious questions about what the DoJ and various companies are willing to do for selfish motives.
Firstly, there is a distinct lack of evidence against Roman. No evidence has been found on any computer, thumb drive or server that links Roman to the crimes he’s accused of.
The evidence that does exist has been produced by the blockchain forensics company Chainanalysis. But as yet this evidence is not open to scrutiny, and, such evidence has never been challenged in court.
Secondly, the case highlights numerous material conflicts of interest within the DoJ and Chainalysis. A revolving door between the DoJ and Big Tech is a well-known issue. Then there’s the use of cases such as Roman’s to help build the reputation of Chainalysis, helping it to gain a multi billion dollar valuation. The profit incentive has and does skew criminal prosecutions in the US.
And lastly, there’s the overreach of the DoJ, and the tactics it is employing to arrest and prosecute individuals. Roman’s case is a high-stakes situation for both Roman, the Bitcoin community and the wider public. If Roman loses, he could face 50 years to life in prison. If unchallenged, it could also set a dangerous precedent and allow the government to expand its jurisdiction globally through the internet.