On Tuesday, Steven Nerayoff, a former advisor to the Ethereum community, filed a lawsuit in opposition to the US authorities, looking for $9.6 billion in damages. The lawsuit, filed underneath the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), accuses the federal government of false prosecution and a sequence of different critical allegations spanning from 2019 to 2023.

Ethereum Insider Vs. The US Govt

Nerayoff’s announcement of the lawsuit got here by means of a put up on X (previously Twitter), the place he vehemently expressed, “Today I have filed my Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit suing the US government for personal damages related to false prosecution. It is time we took a stand against this unrestrained corruption, for all the people wrongly accused & to ensure justice against those who have been a part of this.”

He prolonged his because of Eleanor Terrett of Fox Enterprise for publicizing the lawsuit, in addition to his lawyer Michael Scotto and others concerned in bringing the case to consideration. Terrett, by means of her put up on X, elaborated on the lawsuit, explaining that the previous Ethereum advisor and his authorized workforce have filed an FTCA lawsuit suing the US authorities for $9.6 billion in private damages stemming from false fees and alleged mistreatment by federal brokers between 2019 and 2023.

The lawsuit alleges that sure federal brokers had been cognizant of the groundless nature of the costs in opposition to Nerayoff and engaged in harassment, intimidation, and evidence fabrication to prosecute him underneath the Hobbs Act for extortion. Regardless of the dismissal of the federal indictment in opposition to Nerayoff “with prejudice” in Might 2023, the authorized paperwork argue that the injury to Nerayoff’s popularity and companies justifies the substantial declare for damages.

The involvement of former Manhattan Assistant District Lawyer Michael Scotto and famend lawyer Alan Dershowitz as a constitutional marketing consultant provides vital weight to the case. Dershowitz highlighted the distinctive nature of Nerayoff’s state of affairs, “I am strongly opposed to prosecutors targeting individuals, which is why I agreed to serve as a constitutional consultant to Mr. Nerayoff.”

The detailed lawsuit paperwork present a chilling narrative of alleged abuses of energy by federal brokers and officers, together with bodily assault, false arrest, illegal detention, and malicious prosecution. Notably, the paperwork reference a remark by an Assistant United States Lawyer (AUSA) that the federal authorities was keen to “eat a shit sandwich” — a metaphor for the federal government’s purported willingness to cowl up wrongful, negligent, and unconstitutional actions to keep up the phantasm of reputable legislation enforcement within the crypto area.

“The federal government was willing to ‘eat a shit sandwich,’ and ignore the federal agents and/or officers’ unconstitutional, unauthorized actions in order to maintain the public appearance that DOJ and SEC were engaged in legitimate, well-informed, sexy law enforcement actions in the crypto space…,” Nerayoff and his authorized workforce declare.

Furthermore, the lawsuit accuses federal prosecutors, brokers, and officers of prioritizing their private reputations and profession prospects over justice, on the expense of Nerayoff’s constitutional rights and livelihood. “Such collateral damage was outweighed by federal prosecutors, agents and officers’ shared desires to build their own reputations and resumes in the cryptocurrency landscape, and in the lucrative private sectors,” the lawsuit alleges.

These accusations counsel a systemic issue inside federal legislation enforcement’s dealing with of cryptocurrency instances, with Nerayoff’s expertise serving as a possible watershed second for others within the trade. The lawsuit alleges, “By eating that ‘shit sandwich’ federal prosecutors, agents and officers ignored how they were violating Mr. Nerayoff’s constitutional rights and destroying his life under color of law.”

At press time, the Ethereum value stood at $3,534.