{"id":8155,"date":"2025-01-16T22:33:31","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T22:33:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=8155"},"modified":"2025-01-16T22:33:31","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T22:33:31","slug":"texas-man-sues-attorney-general-over-dojs-prosecution-of-crypto-software-devs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=8155","title":{"rendered":"Texas Man Sues Attorney General Over DOJ\u2019s Prosecution of Crypto Software Devs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A fellow at crypto think tank Coin Center filed suit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, seeking a judge\u2019s guarantee that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be able to prosecute his forthcoming crypto project for violating money transmitting laws in the future.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filled by blockchain entrepreneur Michael Lewellen, claims that the Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) criminal prosecution of software developers who publish noncustodial cryptocurrency software \u2013\u00a0including the ongoing prosecutions of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm and Samourai Wallet co-founder Keonne Rodriguez \u2013\u00a0is unconstitutional, and violates the First and Fifth Amendments.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In addition to being unconstitutional, the suit claims, the DOJ\u2019s prosecution of crypto developers \u201cbetray[s] its own representations to the public,\u201d that, unless developers have \u201ctotal independent control over the value\u201d being moved, they are not acting as money transmitters.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Lewellen\u2019s suit comes amidst growing concerns about government persecution of crypto privacy software developers, both in the U.S. and abroad<\/a>. Tornado Cash\u2019s Storm is facing up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all counts tied to his work with the crypto mixing service; Rodriguez faces a 25 year maximum sentence for creating Samourai Wallet. Both men have pleaded not guilty, and will go to trial this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the absence of a clear regulatory and legal framework for cryptocurrencies, preemptive lawsuits like Lewellen\u2019s are becoming increasingly common. Last year, two NFT artists filed suit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking a similar declaratory judgment protecting them from civil penalties from the SEC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Read more: Does the SEC Really Have Jurisdiction Over NFT Art? Two Artists Sue SEC to Get an Answer<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Through his suit, Lewellen is trying to avoid Rodrigez and Storm\u2019s fate. His forthcoming project, Pharos, is essentially a crypto-based Kickstarter. Built on Ethereum, his crowdfunding platform will use a type of smart contracts he calls \u201cassurance contracts\u201d to ensure that donors will automatically get their money back if the project is not fully funded. The project will also have privacy features that prevents a project\u2019s donors from being publicly identifiable.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As the creator and publisher of the Pharos software, Lewellen will only receive a predetermined fee from projects that are successful. According to his suit, \u201che will never have control over the cryptocurrency that goes through Pharos.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Garland, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, will soon depart the DOJ. Incoming President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to replace Garland as Attorney General, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, is currently undergoing nomination hearings. Garland\u2019s successor will be automatically replaced as the named defendant of the suit upon his departure from the DOJ.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fellow at crypto think tank Coin Center filed suit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, seeking a judge\u2019s guarantee that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will not be able to prosecute his forthcoming crypto project for violating money transmitting laws in the future. The lawsuit, filled by blockchain entrepreneur Michael Lewellen, claims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-8155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}