Key takeaways:
- Early Ethereum network advisor Steven Nerayoff filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging false accusations and abuse by federal officials from 2019 to 2023.
- The legal team representing Nerayoffs feels that the harm done to his company’s image and finances is substantial enough to warrant suing the US government.
Early Ethereum network advisor Steven Nerayoff filed a lawsuit against the US government alleging false accusations and abuse by federal officials from 2019 to 2023.
Nerayoff filed a Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) lawsuit against the United States in 2019, seeking $9.6 billion in damages for the extortion case brought against him. Nerayoff is well-known for accusing Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin of fraud in public.
After around four years of litigation, the US government finally dismissed the case in May 2023.
Eleanor Terrett, a journalist for FOX Business, reported a new SF-95 filing in which Nerayoff sued the federal government on the grounds that its agents knew the allegations were unfounded.
In addition, he contended that certain agents had coerced information and harassed him, fabricating evidence to support their extortion charges.
The legal team representing Nerayoffs feels that the harm done to his company’s image and finances is substantial enough to warrant suing the US government. The document says as follows:
“As a direct and proximate result of the wrongful conduct of federal agents and/or officers, Mr. Nerayoff’s well-being, personal life and career were irreparably harmed.”
Terrett claims that Nerayoff consulted with eminent attorney Alan Dershowitz on the matter, who called the situation “unusual.”
Nerayoff is an attorney, a serial entrepreneur, the creator of several international patents, and the man behind the blockchain advisory company Alchemist. In addition, he is regarded as a blockchain pioneer due to his early participation in initiatives like as Ethereum in 2015.
In September 2019, Nerayoff and Michael Hlady, his Alchemist associate, were taken into custody by the FBI. Authorities claimed that Nerayoff and Hlady threatened to “destroy a cryptocurrency startup if they were not paid millions of dollars” in Ether, leading to their extortion charges.
Nerayoff, a pioneer in the cryptocurrency space, has been embroiled in several scandals and court cases. In the past, the ex-advisor for Ethereum has been critical of the platform on several occasions, leveling grave accusations against Joe Lubin, Vitalik Buterin, and the Ethereum Foundation.
Nerayoff made several accusations against different facets of Ethereum’s creation and functioning, such as collusion with dishonest officials, personal misbehavior, and fraudulent initial coin offerings.
Nerayoff asserts, among other things, that regulators gave Ethereum special treatment; this is known in the community as “ETHGate.”
