Braden John Karony, ex-CEO of SafeMoon, has filed a request to delay his upcoming trial, hoping that shifting U.S. regulations under the Trump administration might help dismiss some of the charges against him.
In a February 5 court filing, Karony’s defense team asked for a postponement from March to April 2025, citing potential changes in how digital assets are regulated. They referenced a January executive order from Trump that could affect how the SEC views crypto assets like SafeMoon, possibly retroactively altering the case.
The case stems from a 2023 indictment in which Karony and two others were accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of SafeMoon tokens.
The charges include securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, with SafeMoon’s classification as a security being central to the case. Karony’s legal team argues that, should the SEC revise its stance, the charges could be invalidated.
While Karony hopes for favorable regulatory changes, U.S. prosecutors have pushed back, arguing that even if the law changes, charges related to wire fraud and money laundering should still stand. Despite the ongoing legal battle, Karony remains out on a $3 million bond, while one of his co-defendants, Nagy, is believed to have fled to Russia.
As the regulatory environment for digital assets evolves, this case may be one of many that could test the limits of current laws surrounding crypto-related crimes.
An Italian man narrowly escaped a harrowing ordeal in New York after being kidnapped and tortured in an alleged scheme to extract access to his digital wealth.
A federal judge has thrown out major fraud charges against Avraham Eisenberg, the trader accused of draining millions from DeFi platform Mango Markets, citing jurisdictional flaws in the government’s case.
A Massachusetts man has been handed a six-year prison sentence after federal authorities exposed his unlicensed crypto operation, which laundered over $1 million under the guise of a vending machine business.
The decentralized exchange Cetus, built on the Sui blockchain, has been hit with one of the largest DeFi exploits of the year, losing over $220 million in crypto assets.