Just four months before their criminal sentence for operating a scheme of criptomonet mining ponzi of $ 577 million, the two founders of Hashflare were apparently ordered to be ordered to be deposited for themselves that the United States National Security Department (DHS), an instruction that directly contradicts an judicial order so that men remain in the state of Washington until they are sentenced in August.
In a joint letter to the Court last week, the lawyers of Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin told District Judge Robert Lasnik of the West District of Washington that both men had received “disturbing communications” of DHs that ordered them to leave the country immediately.
“It’s time for you to leave the United States,” read an email to Potapenko and Turogin dated April 11. “The DHS is finishing its probation. Do not try to remain in the United States: the federal government will find it. Please leave the United States immediately.”
The email, included with the letter presented last week, threatened both men with “criminal prosecution, civil fines and sanctions and any other legal option available for the federal government” if they remained in the country. It resembles emails that undocumented immigrants and US citizens have received in recent days.
Ironically, Potapenko and Turogin are not in the United States for their own will: they were extradited from their hometown at the request of the United States Department of Justice in 2022 in an accusation of 18 positions linked to their hashflare scheme. Although initially they declared themselves innocent of all charges, in February both declared themselves guilty of a conspiracy charge to commit electronic fraud, which entails a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and agreed to lose more than $ 400 million in assets. Both have been in the Seattle area on bail since last July.
“Although there is nothing that Ivan and Sergei would like to go home immediately, they understood that they are also under the court order to remain in King County,” Mark Bini, a partner of Reed Smith LLP and a main lawyer from Pottenko, wrote in Potenko’s main lawyer, wrote in the couple’s joint letter to the court. Bini did not respond to the request for comments from Coindesk.
In his letter, Bini said that the emails of the DHS had caused both Potapeko and Turogin “significant anxiety.”
“We and our clients have seen recent news. Immigration authorities make mistakes, and people who should not be in custody end up in custody, sometimes even deported to places where they should not be deported,” Bini wrote.
Six days after Bini’s letter to the judge, the Department of Justice presented his own letter before the Court saying that the prosecutors had coordinated with the National Security Investigations Division (HSI) of the DHS and secured a postponement of one year for the order of self -sports.
“This should provide enough time for the sentence to take place,” said the prosecution letter.
The DHS did not respond to the request for comments from Coindesk.
Potapeko and Turogin are scheduled to be sentenced on August 14 in Seattle. His lawyers have said that they will request to be sentenced to the time fulfilled, which means that there is no additional time in prison, and that they are sent home to Estonia “immediately.”
