OK - now in US v. Roman Storm, US witness Gibbs on the stand testifying about his messages with Storm on speed of updates. Inner City Press put out book about the case Crypto Tornado & will live tweet, thread below
Cross:
Storm's Axel: You have a lot of respect for Roman Storm?
Gibbs: Yes.
Axel: What's the main difference between DNS and ENS?
Gibbs: Most devices resolve DNS names but not ENS names
[see e.g. matthewleeicp.eth 0x83374a5ab3411d95b77aCb657918bb6478894453
Storm's Axel: Did Last Mile Labs even pin Tornado Cash content?
Gibbs: I don't think so.
Axel: Who did you grant from?
Gibbs: GitCoin, Eth DAO and some others I don't remember.
Axel: And you never charged Mr. Storm?
Gibbs: Correct.
Axel: Nothing further
Judge Failla: Next witness
The US calls Shakeeb Ahmed.
AUSA: Where did you go to high school?
Ahmed: Louisville, Kentucky. I'm currently incarcerated in West Virginia for hacking two exchanges.
AUSA: What is Tornado Cash?
Ahmed: Anonymized crypto currency.
AUSA: Why are you testifying?
Ahmed: To reduce my sentence under Rule 35. It's up to my sentencing judge [Victor Marrero - Inner City Press covered Shakeeb Ahmed's case, put it in Crypto Criminals: hacker Shakeeb Ahmed & crypto broadly,
AUSA: What were your two hacks?
Shakeeb Ahmed: Crema Finance and Nirvana.
AUSA: How did it work?
Shakeeb Ahmed: I found a way to grossly inflate the key to my benefit, by 1000s of percentage. I drained the exchange.
AUSA: How much?
Ahmed: 8 plus million dollars
AUSA: How did you first learn about Tornado Cash?
Shakeeb Ahmed: I heard Lazarus used it, for a nation state. I figured there was something to it.
Judge: Mr. Patton, do you want a limiting instruction at this point?
Sidebar
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Judge: The information you heard is only for the purpose I told you.
AUSA: Where did you access Tornado Cash from?
Shakeeb Ahmed: My apartment in Manhattan, July of 2022. You do the deposit and you get back a long string of numbers you can use later to withdraw
AUSA: Do you think the relayer was compensated?
Shakeeb Ahmed: They took it out of the withdrawal.
AUSA: Did you withdraw right away?
Shakeeb Ahmed: 48 hours later to increase my anonymity.
AUSA: What about Nirvana?
Ahmed: It was one token, I suppressed the price
AUSA: Did you use a mixer?
Shakeeb Ahmed: I used Solona Mixed - and I used Samourai
[they are on trial too here in SDNY & Inner City Press covers it: "In Crypto Case of Samourai Wallet Defendants Move to Dismiss as DeFi Amici Want to Argue"
Break.
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They're back. Cross examination.
Storm's lawyer David Patton: You didn't use Tornado Cash at all for your Nirvana hack- you didn't use it for your profits from your Crema hack, right?
Shakeeb Ahmed: Right.
Patton: On Crema, you only used Tornado Cash for gas?
Yes
Storm's lawyer Patton: You only got caught for Crema - then you told them about Nirvana?
Shakeeb Ahmed: They may have known.
Patton: But for Crema, they nailed you down?
AUSA: Objection!
Judge: I'll allow it.
Ahmed: Yes.
Patton: You used Solana?
Ahmed: & Monero
Storm's lawyer Patton: Nothing further.
Judge: Re-direct?
AUSA: No.
Judge: Next witness.
It's Austin Dever of GitHub.
AUSA: Are you under subpoena?
Dever: Yes.
AUSA: Where do you live?
Dever: Seattle.
AUSA: Do you expect meals?
Dever: Yes please
AUSA: Where did you previously work?
Dever: The CIA. I was a case officer.
AUSA: Where does GitHub keep its data?
Dever: AWS, and Microsoft servers.
AUSA: Do you know where they are?
Dever: I do not.
AUSA: How does GitHub make its money?
Dever: Paid accounts
AUSA: Were Peppersec and Tornado Cash and RStormSF customers?
Dever: Yes...
AUSA: Did there come a time in August 2022 when GitHub terminated its relationship with Tornado Cash?
Dever: Yes.
AUSA: No further questions.
Storm's lawyer: Your Honor...
Next witness
AUSA: Where do you work, Mr. Dubash?
Dubash: Alchemy.
AUSA: Did we pay for your transportation here today?
Dubash: No. I live in New York.
AUSA: Does Alchemy support the Ethereum blockchain?
Dubash: Yes.
AUSA: Is this a payment record from Roman Storm to Alchemy?
Dubash: Yes, through out processor Stripe.
AUSA: Beyond the $49 payments, was there one for $200?
Dubash: Yes
Next witness:
FBI Special Agent William Lopez, cell site analysis.
AUSA: How many times have you testified about this?
Lopez: Four times.
AUSA: We certify him as a expert.
Judge: Objection?
Storm's Lopez: Ongoing objection.
Judge; He is certified as an expert.
Judge: We'll continue after lunch.
[Jury and witness leave]
Judge: Who are the government's remaining witnesses?
AUS: We may rest our case on Thursday.
AUSA Rehn: They haven't given us defense exhibits. And we object to them presenting about other hacks that used other mixers.
Judge: You got Agent DeCapua to admit he wasn't aware of certain other hacks.
OK - now Philip Werlau of on the stand, to testify about what Tornado Cash *could have* done.
AUSA: Have you ever met Roman Storm?
Werlau: No.
AUSA: But you reviewed the source code?
Werlau: I did
AUSA: What was your goal?
Werlau: To understand how Tornado Cash worked.
AUSA: Show demonstrative aid 3005-1. What's this?
Werlau: Tornado Cash on GitHub
AUSA: Why are all the deposits in denominations like 100 Eth (or 10 Eth)?
Werlau: To make them hard to track
AUSA: Let's read these messages. What did Roman Storm write?
Werlau: Storm wrote, I will give you two eth for your work.
AUSA: Who controlled Tornado dot eth during this period?
Werlau: Roman Semenov
AUSA: And what does Roman Semenov write here?
Werlau: Semenov writes, He can f*ck off.
AUSA: How many TORN tokens did the founders create?
Werlau: 10 million. 5,500,000 went to the DAO. 2.5 million went to the founders and early supporters, vesting over time
Judge: We'll break here for the day. Jurors, keep an open mind
[Jurors leave]
Judge Failla: The hearing on the motion to quash has to be Thursday, tomorrow I have a pro se defendant, Curcio hearing or guilty plea, if I cancel it he'll flip out. So, Thursday
Judge: Is the US still going to rest on Thursday?
AUSA (not Rehn) It certainly seems that way.
Judge: Mr. Klein, who is the defense's first witness?
Storm's lawyer Klein: It depends when they rest their case.
Judge: I've been patient, even as you mandamus-ed me
Judge: Mr. Klein, when you are on your case in chief, this cannot continue. You need to tell me how long your case is. Be mindful that at some point I am going to make you tell me.
Adjourned - story & extra soon
If like & can, support: extras As more have asked, wallet : ) matthewleeicp.eth 0x83374a5ab3411d95b77aCb657918bb6478894453 Book:
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