US Prosecutors File Extortion Charges Against Early Advisor to Ethereum Network

His lawyers say that their client was placed in a van on the day of his arrest and given a clipboard with a list of the names of hundreds of top players in the crypto industry, from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin to Caitlin Long and to the CEO. Custodia Bank, and instructed the FBI to provide dirt that would help them secure “dozens of convictions” in exchange for a lighter sentence. They also claim that Nerayoff’s employee, Hlady, was an FBI informant who exchanged 100 messages and 45 phone calls with the FBI agent investigating the pair prior to their arrest.