Jurors who will resolve whether two brothers are guilty beyond an inexpensive doubt in a case involving maximum extractable value (MEV) bots on the Ethereum blockchain aren’t any closer to a verdict by the weekend.
Jurors within the U.S. government's case against Anton and James Peraire-Bueno demanded additional clarification from the judge concerning the intentions behind their actions, in response to an Inner City Press report Friday in a New York City court. Despite the judge's instructions, jurors reportedly “had an issue reaching a unanimous verdict” within the case.
The reporting suggested the jury can have found the brothers not guilty on no less than one among the counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to acquire stolen property. Judge Jessica Clarke denied defense attorneys' motions for a mistrial and ordered the jury to schedule dinner and proceed deliberations.
The deliberations lasted nearly three full business days through Friday afternoon, lasting far longer than comparable cryptocurrency and fraud-related cases. In contrast, the jury within the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in the identical district court took about five hours to seek out him guilty of seven felonies.
The charges against the brothers stemmed from allegations that they used MEV bots to extract roughly $25 million in cryptocurrencies from the Ethereum blockchain in 2023. Prosecutors' theory within the case, presented to the jury, was that the 2 individuals “tricked” the system by presenting themselves as “honest validators” on the blockchain.
How long can jurors deliberate?
At the time of publication, it was unclear whether the jury would reach a verdict at the top of the day. In a notice to the judge Thursday, they said they may stay until 7:30 p.m. ET Friday.
While there is usually no law limiting the time a jury can spend deliberating, a judge may intervene to expedite the proceedings or grant a motion for a mistrial if the jury indicates the proceedings are deadlocked. In the Peraire-Buenos case, Clarke didn’t file an Allen indictment — “instructions to a vacated jury asking them to agree on a verdict,” in response to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.
