US federal prosecutors and the co-founders of the crypto mixer Samourai Pockets have requested a court docket for extra time to think about doubtlessly dismissing the case after the Justice Division rolled again its crypto enforcement.
Legal professionals for Samourai Pockets CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief know-how officer William Hill mentioned in an April 28 letter to Manhattan federal choose Richard Berman that they collectively requested with the federal government “for a continuance of the pretrial motions schedule by 16 days.”
The Samourai executives’ legal professionals mentioned on April 10 that they wrote to Performing Manhattan US Legal professional Jay Clayton to request the dismissal of the case after an April 7 memo from Deputy Legal professional Common Todd Blanche shuttered the Justice Division’s crypto staff.
“On April 24, 2025, protection counsel met with the prosecutors and their supervisors in particular person on the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace to debate this request,” the legal professionals mentioned.
“The Defendants imagine {that a} continuance of the pretrial motions schedule is warranted to allow Defendants to keep away from the numerous expense of getting ready their motions whereas the Authorities determines its place,” the letter acknowledged.
It added that prosecutors agreed to adjourn “with out expressing any views on the deserves.”
Samourai Pockets’s Rodriguez and Hill were charged with conspiracy to commit cash laundering and working an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise in April 2024, to which they each pleaded not responsible.
Blanche’s memo mentioned, “The Division of Justice is just not a digital property regulator,” and it could abandon enforcement and investigations apart from these which “give attention to prosecuting people who victimize digital asset traders, or those that use digital property in furtherance of prison offenses.”
At the moment, motions within the Samourai executives’ case are due Might 13, responses are due on June 10, and replies on June 24. The letter proposes to place this again to Might 29 for motions, June 26 for responses, and July 10 for replies.
The continuance wouldn’t have an effect on the trial date, which is slated for early November.
Quashing crypto litigation checklist lengthens
The transfer is the most recent in an extended checklist of court docket actions to have prosecutors’ crypto circumstances quashed below the Trump administration’s favorable stance towards the trade.
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On April 9, SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony, who’s charged with wire fraud and cash laundering, cited Blanche’s directive in a bid to get his case dismissed.
In the meantime, on April 28, the DeFi Schooling Fund petitioned the White House to drop fees in opposition to Twister Money co-founder Roman Storm and requested quick motion to “discontinue the Biden-era Division of Justice’s lawless marketing campaign to criminalize open-source software program growth.”
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