MEV bot trial jury struggles to reach verdict as weekend approaches

The jury that will decide whether two brothers are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a case involving Maximum Extractable Value (MEV) bots on the Ethereum blockchain is no closer to reaching a verdict heading into the weekend.

Jurors in the U.S. government’s case against Anton Perer-Bueno and James Perer-Bueno asked the judge for additional clarification on the intentions behind their actions, Inner City Press reported Friday in a New York City courthouse. Despite the judge’s instructions, jurors reportedly “had trouble reaching a unanimous verdict” in the case.

Reports suggest a jury could acquit the brothers of at least one of the following charges: wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to receive stolen property. Judge Jessica Clark rejected the defense’s motion for a mistrial and ordered the jury to eat dinner and continue deliberations.

The deliberations, which had taken nearly three full business days as of Friday afternoon, are much longer than similar cases involving cryptocurrencies and fraud. By contrast, the jury in former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Freed’s criminal trial in the same district court took about five hours to find him guilty of seven felonies.

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The charges against the brothers stem from allegations that they used the MEV bot to extract approximately $25 million in cryptocurrency from the Ethereum blockchain in 2023. The prosecution’s theory of the case, presented to the jury, was that the two men “fooled” the system by falsely presenting themselves as “honest verifiers” on the blockchain.

How long can the jury deliberate?

At the time of publication, it was unclear whether the jury would reach a verdict by the end of the day. In a memo to the judge Thursday, they said they could stay until Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

There are generally no laws limiting the amount of time a jury can deliberate, but if a jury deadlocks, a judge can intervene to expedite the process or grant a motion for a mistrial. Mr. Clark did not make any accusations against Mr. Allen in the Peraire-Buenos case. According to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, “instructions were provided encouraging the hung jury to agree on a verdict.”

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