The Tornado Cash Trail began today in the Southern Region of New York (SDNY).

Only during the first 90 minutes of the day, Judge Phila, the judge who was on the trial, worked in prosecution and defense before the court. The rest of the day was dedicated to the ju-describer’s selection process.

The judge began the session by discussing the remaining three claims. In Limin Tornado Cash co-founder Alexey Pertsev’s opposition to data extraction from mobile phones, and from other defenses Brady Defence demand.

Limine #1 Movement: Data Extraction from Persev Phone

In both the status meeting on Friday and the letter sent to court over the weekend, the defense questioned the integrity of the data extracted from Alexei Pertef’s phone.

He argued that some of the messages in the data, especially Pertsev’s telegram messages, should be acceptable as they lack context.

The defense specifically referred to one message. This refers to the quote that he misquoted Pertsev.

The message referenced the $600 million cryptographic exploit from online game Axie Infinity. The funds were washed through Tornado Cash. What court records originally did not show was that this message was forwarded from Coindesk The accused reporter, from Rome Storm, Peltsev.

The judge addressed the issue, but said it was not a basis to exclude the remaining data extracted from Pertsev’s phone from the body of evidence in the case.

Limine #2 move: denial of defense Brady request

Judge Phila also denied the recent Brady request for defense. (This type of request is named after Brady vs Maryland A Supreme Court lawsuit in 1963. Brady The rules provide for clear evidence to be provided to the defense, making it available as part of the due process.

“The idea that there is faster information is very unlikely,” Judge Phila said.

The defense did not push back the judge’s decision.

It raises doubts about the legitimacy of data provided by custodians

Some of the data prosecutors plan to use as evidence in their cases was provided by companies including Apple, X, and Dragonfly (a venture capital firm that invested in Tornado Cash).

The defense questioned the legitimacy of the data provided in light of recent discoveries of false induction telegram messages.

Representatives of these companies requested that they testify during trial regarding the legitimacy of the data.

Judge Phila denied the request and said that such testimony was not necessary.

The defense accepted the denial as it was related to Apple and X, but pushed back against requests related to Dragonfly, calling for questions about the relevance of the data provided by Dragonfly and the devices on which the data was retrieved.

Issues with Dragonfly Telegram Messages

The defense argued that telegram messages from Dragonfly employees should not be included in evidence that the company should not be handed over to court (although it also states that it is OK for the company tornado cash transactions to be handed over).

In response, the prosecutors acknowledged that some of these telegram messages contained hearsay, but explained that the message also includes information about tornado cash business transactions and therefore should not be excluded from the body of evidence.

Judge Faira then cited the 2020 Second Circuit case from the US v. Elgamal.

The prosecution also cited us and Figueroa. This is a 2023 lawsuit that found it legal to recognize a business record that is legal in a particular context, claiming that the telegram message obtained by the court is a business record and is related to the case.

In a final statement on the issue, the defense argued that it speculated that the device on which the telegram message was obtained was a company-owned device.

Judge Phila was particularly surprised by the statement, but said the defense had no basis for the claim and there was a recognition that stated that the phone was indeed a company’s device.

Prosecutors added that the records produced by Dragonfly corresponded to the large ju judge’s summons.

Ju-referee’s choice

The ju apprentice selection process began at 11:15am ET and continued for the rest of the day.

Of the 90 potential ju apprentices, approximately 45 people addressed the court and/or spoke with the judge in a sidebar session.

The ju apprentice selection process will resume tomorrow at 9am ET.

If time allows, the prosecutor and defense will issue an opening statement later tomorrow.

April 9th, 2025 – Miami, FL

class=”ql-align-justify”>Everstake, a leading global non-custodial staking provider for retail and institutional clients, announces that its 0.1+ ETH Staking Solution, which enables users to stake with as little as 0.1 ETH, has undergone an independent audit by Trail of Bits.

Trail of Bits conducted a comprehensive review of several smart contracts within Everstake’s Ethereum staking protocol. The audit evaluated authentication, access controls, documentation, and transaction security. While Trail of Bits identified areas for improvement, Everstake has successfully addressed the majority of the findings, including updating its documentation.

Since staking traditionally requires 32 ETH, Everstake was among the first to lower the barrier to entry, allowing users to participate with just 0.1 ETH. For the company, client security remains a top priority, particularly as this protocol is also integrated into Wallet SDK—an open-source toolkit that enables easy staking integration for wallets. Industry leaders such as Trezor rely on this technology to provide secure and user-friendly staking experiences.

“Ensuring a seamless and secure staking experience is a top priority for Trezor. By partnering with Everstake, we provide our users with a way to receive rewards while maintaining top-tier security standards. The recent audit by Trail of Bits confirmed that Everstake’s staking infrastructure meets high-security standards, reinforcing our commitment to making staking both secure and accessible within Trezor Suite,” said Mat?j Žák, CEO at Trezor. 

“Security and accessibility go hand in hand when it comes to staking. At Everstake, we take both seriously, which is why we welcomed an independent audit by Trail of Bits. This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to maintaining a secure platform for our users. We believe that industry-wide collaboration is key to creating a safer Web3, and we’re proud to contribute to setting higher standards in the staking ecosystem”, said Bohdan Opryshko, co-founder and COO at Everstake.

The full report of the audit is available at Trail of Bits’ GitHub.

About Trail of Bits:

Founded in 2012 by 3 expert hackers with no investment capital, Trail of Bits is the premier place for security experts to boldly advance security and address technology’s newest and most challenging risks. It has helped secure some of the world’s most targeted organizations and devices. Our combination of novel research with practical solutions reduces the security risks that our clients face from emerging technologies. Our work helps drive the security industry and the public understanding of the technology underlying our world.

About Everstake:

Everstake, founded in 2018 by blockchain engineers, is a leading global non-custodial staking provider for both institutional and retail clients, on a mission to make staking accessible to everyone. Operating across 85+ networks with 735,000+ delegators, it delivers institutional-grade infrastructure with 99.9% uptime. Everstake ensures top-tier security and compliance with SOC 2 and has completed a 3-week Trail of Bits audit of its Ethereum staking protocol (3a3fee5). Through strategic partnerships with industry leaders, Everstake strengthens the staking ecosystem and provides whitelabel staking solutions, enabling businesses to easily integrate staking into their platforms. 

Everstake is a software platform that provides infrastructure tools and resources for users but does not offer investment advice or investment opportunities, manage funds, facilitate collective investment schemes, provide financial services or take custody of, or otherwise hold or manage, customer assets. Everstake does not conduct any independent diligence on or substantive review of any blockchain asset, digital currency, cryptocurrency or associated funds. Everstake’s provision of technology services allowing a user to stake digital assets is not an endorsement or a recommendation of any digital assets by it. Users are fully and solely responsible for evaluating whether to stake digital assets.

Contact

PR Manager
Annabella Lapshyna
Everstake
marketing@everstake.one

According to a March 4 statement from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Parsarad created the Nemesis marketplace in 2021, allowing illegal trade in drugs, fake documents, hacking tools, and other criminal services.

Alongside Parsarad himself, the sanctions extend to multiple cryptocurrency accounts connected to him, specifically 44 Bitcoin
BTC


$85,025.77

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Chainalysis, a blockchain intelligence agency, reported these wallets collectively received over $850,000 between July 2022 and March 2024. Due to the increase in cryptocurrency values during this period, Parsarad’s total transfers exceeded $1.6 million.

Most of Parsarad’s cryptocurrency transactions involved Nemesis directly, although Chainalysis revealed that he also sent about $12,000 to other darknet sites, including ASAP Market, Next Generation, and Incognito Market.

Before authorities from the US, Germany, and Lithuania seized Nemesis’s servers in March 2024, the platform hosted roughly 30,000 users and around 1,000 active sellers. OFAC described the site as having built-in features designed to facilitate money laundering.

Bradley T. Smith, Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated that Parsarad is actively attempting to relaunch the Nemesis marketplace.

Parsarad is accused not only of operating the marketplace but also of laundering digital currency transactions for criminals who used Nemesis. With the sanctions now in place, US individuals and businesses are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Parsarad or companies majority-owned by him.

Recently, US authorities detained Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit. What happened? Read the full story.