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In a new chapter of the ETHGate saga, Steven Nerayoff’s attorney, Michael Scotto, said they have ample evidence to back up forthcoming lawsuits against the US Government and additional private actors, as well as whistleblower filings that they intend to release, some of which will implicate major players in Ethereum’s early days.
In an interview with Cryptonews.com, Scotto detailed how they plan to counter the “false narrative” surrounding his client with factual revelations in the lawsuits, which will be filed in New York State and Federal Courts.
Steven Nerayoff, an early Ethereum insider, spent years battling government accusations of extortion before finally getting charges dismissed earlier this year. He is now seeking legal recourse.
Scotto asserted that Nerayoff harbors no ill will toward Ethereum itself, which he still wants to see prosper, portraying Nerayoff as pro-crypto and pro-Ethereum philosophically. Nerayoff takes issue with how the project took shape and has objections over particular actions by specific leaders, however, he said.
While the validity of Nerayoff’s claims is still unconfirmed, Scotto said the forthcoming lawsuits will likely include charges of malicious prosecution and breach of contract over hundreds of millions in unpaid deals and that the whistleblower fillings will relate specifically to ETHGate.
As was seen in the recording Nerayoff published last week, he provided key strategic guidance to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in 2015 on tackling mounting structural, legal, and financial problems.
An X post on November 15 from Nerayoff also hinted at the possibility of fraud being in the mix of allegations that will be revealed in the lawsuits.
“The recording isn’t directly related to the fraud but will illuminate a lot of what was really happening & show my involvement. The fraud will be in the lawsuit,” he wrote in the post.
Though recognizing the need for change, Buterin seemed reluctant to make necessary choices in the recording. A restructuring plan was also proposed but never fully implemented.
Scotto explained that his client was focused entirely on defending himself after the September 2019 arrest until finally getting the government to dismiss charges. According to Scotto, Nerayoff felt fighting for his life and reputation against wrongful allegations took priority over releasing the recordings of himself and Buterin earlier.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say [he was] fighting for his life, and frankly we were only able to go on the offensive this past February when we filed our motion to dismiss,” Scotto said. “The case was eventually dismissed on the government’s motion because our motion proved they knew he was innocent and charged him anyway, and they ignored that evidence and simply said ‘Oh yeah, we can’t prove his guilt.'”
Now exonerated, Steven Nerayoff is going on the offense against parties he believes took advantage of the situation. Scotto said Nerayoff sat in court for years until he could fully clear his name.
“The idea was to kind of coordinate those (the recordings and lawsuits)… And so that’s coming shortly,” Scotto told Cryptonews.com. “…The idea was we would put this out there because when those lawsuits became public, we didn’t want people to then question who Steve was and what happened.”