Attorney Files Lawsuit Against DHS in Effort to Reveal Satoshi Nakamoto’s Identity

Attorney James A. Murphy has introduced motion towards the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit was initiated to compel the discharge of presidency information associated to the id of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

The go well with was filed on April 7, 2025, following the division’s failure to reply to Murphy’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated February 12, 2025.

DHS Agent Allegedly Confirmed Knowledge Of Satoshi Nakamoto

According to court documents, Murphy is looking for information of an interview that DHS allegedly performed with the particular person or individuals utilizing the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. This improvement comes following the Bitcoin creator’s birthday, which happened on April 5.

The grievance cites public statements made by DHS Special Agent Rana Saoud at a 2019 convention, the place she allegedly confirmed that DHS is aware of Nakamoto’s id and had despatched brokers to California to interview him.

The lawsuit comes amid rising authorities curiosity in Bitcoin. The grievance referenced President Trump’s March 6, 2025, Executive Order establishing a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.” They additionally famous that almost 20 states are presently contemplating laws to authorize investing public funds in Bitcoin.

The lawsuit facilities on statements made by DHS Special Agent Rana Saoud throughout a presentation on the OffshoreAlert Conference North America on April 29, 2019.

Court paperwork quote Saoud as explaining {that a} “really smart, forward-leaning agent” had requested to interview Nakamoto. Despite preliminary skepticism and “push back” from headquarters, brokers had been despatched to California for the assembly. When the brokers arrived, they reportedly found that Nakamoto “wasn’t alone in creating” Bitcoin and that “there were three other people” concerned.

The grievance states that Saoud described how the brokers “sat down and met with them and talked to them to find out how this actually works and what their reason for it was.” Despite this public disclosure, the identities of those 4 people have by no means been revealed to the general public, in accordance to the lawsuit.

FOIA Request History And Government Inaction

Murphy’s go well with supplies a complete timeline of efforts he undertook to get data requested by means of the lawful FOIA course of earlier than being compelled to sue. On February 12, he requested information from 4 classes.

The information included whether or not there was any transcript of Saoud’s statements in 2019 that had been made publicly. These embrace a file of any interview carried out by DHS with somebody utilizing the identify Satoshi Nakamoto, a file of any interviews with others who claimed to be the inventors of Bitcoin, and a file of any data that mentioned the id of the creator(s) of Bitcoin.

The grievance signifies that DHS accepted the request for paperwork on February 13, 2025, and assigned monitoring quantity 2025-HQFO-02468 to the request. DHS additionally forwarded the request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is a element of DHS. However, on February 19, ICE knowledgeable Murphy that they meant to course of the request beneath a previous monitoring quantity (2025-ICFO-17214) assigned to an analogous request made by Murphy earlier.

Satoshi’s id will undoubtedly proceed to be of giant curiosity, particularly contemplating that the Bitcoin creator’s net worth is 1.1 million BTC, price round $86.9 billion based mostly on the flagship crypto’s present worth.

Murphy’s Complaint Shows Interest in Bitcoin’s Creator

Murphy’s grievance emphasizes the general public curiosity in figuring out Bitcoin’s creator. The lawsuit factors to President Trump’s latest government order directing that every one Bitcoin held by the federal authorities be positioned in a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. It additionally authorizes the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce to develop “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional Bitcoin.”

The grievance additionally references pending U.S. Senate laws to set up a Bitcoin reserve operated by the Treasury Department and notes that almost 20 states are contemplating legal guidelines to enable public fund funding in Bitcoin.

According to the submitting, many private and non-private firms presently maintain Bitcoin as treasury belongings. Notably, Strategy holds over 500,000 Bitcoin. However, Strategy halted Bitcoin purchases with no acquisitions made in the primary week of April. This was following a latest drop in Bitcoin worth to as little as $74,000.

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Vignesh Karunanidhi

Vignesh Karunanidhi is a seasoned crypto journalist with almost 7 years of expertise in the cryptocurrency trade. He has contributed to quite a few publications, together with WatcherGuru, BeInCrypto, Milkroad, and authored over 10,000 articles

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