Today, in the Southern District of New York, was the first hearing in the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) case against Samourai Wallet developers<\/a> Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.<\/p>\n I attended the first hearing for the #Samourai<\/a> Wallet case earlier today on behalf of @BitcoinMagazine<\/a> and briefly spoke with one of the defendants, Keonne Rodriguez, after the hearing.<\/p>\n Here’s a recap of what I learned: pic.twitter.com\/QZN4Ape0CZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Frank Corva (@frankcorva) May 28, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n The two developers were arrested in late April<\/a> and charged with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.<\/p>\n Only Rodriguez and his attorney, Michael Krause, were present in the courtroom today, though, as Hill is still in Portugal and has yet to respond to an extradition request from the US government.<\/p>\n The prosecution stated that it is nearly set to engage in discovery (sharing the evidence that it plans to use for the trial with the defendants) and that it is prepared for the trial whether both Hill and Rodriguez are present for it or not.<\/p>\n Samourai Wallet developer Keonne Rodriguez leaving the courthouse in downtown Manhattan after his hearing on May 28, 2024.<\/p>\n The prosecution also stated that it has yet to extract all of the data from the electronic devices it has confiscated from Rodriguez, but that it will provide “substantial discovery” based on the information it has obtained thus far.<\/p>\n And it shared that it is still waiting on Rodriguez to turn over a 2 terabyte hard drive that the defendant still has in his possession.<\/p>\n No details were provided as to what data might be on the hard drive.<\/p>\n“Substantial Discovery”<\/h2>\n
A Letter From Two Senators<\/h2>\n