The Case of Roman Sterlingov with Tor Ekeland & Mike Hassard - WBD662

 




 






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.