Odaily News Lawyers for the founding team of Samourai Wallet, a cryptocurrency mixer, filed documents in the Manhattan federal court, accusing prosecutors of concealing key regulatory opinions for 18 months. The documents show that the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) informed prosecutors as early as November 2023 that because Samourai does not host user private keys, its services "do not meet the requirements for money service business (MSB) licensing." However, prosecutors still charged the two founders with unlicensed operations and money laundering in April 2024, involving $2 billion in illegal transactions.
The lawyer pointed out that the prosecutors should have disclosed the information before May 8, 2023, but it was not made public until April 1, 2025. FinCEN officials admitted in internal communications that the existing regulatory guidelines did not clearly define the criteria for identifying "functionally controlled" cryptocurrencies, and the prosecutors' arguments posed legal risks. The Samourai team intends to apply for the dismissal of the charges again based on this, and questioned the Department of Justice's violation of its policy direction of "not pursuing unintentional violations by mixers" issued in April. This case may become an important precedent for the transparency of cryptocurrency regulatory enforcement. (Cointelegraph)