Jury in MEV bot trial struggles to reach verdict as weekend approaches

Jurors who will decide whether two brothers are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a case involving maximal extractable value (MEV) bots on the Ethereum blockchain are no closer to reaching a verdict going into the weekend.

According to reporting from Inner City Press at a New York City court on Friday, the jurors in the US government’s case against Anton and James Peraire-Bueno requested additional clarification from the judge regarding the intentions behind their actions. Despite the instructions from the judge, the jurors were reportedly “having an issue reaching a unanimous verdict” in the case.

The reporting suggested that the jury could find the brothers not guilty on at least one of the charges for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to receive stolen property. Judge Jessica Clarke denied the defense lawyers’ requests for a mistrial and directed the jury to order dinner and continue deliberations.

The deliberations, having taken almost three full business days as of Friday afternoon, have been far longer than comparable cases involving cryptocurrency and fraud. In contrast, the jury for the criminal trial of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, in the same district court, took about five hours to find him guilty of seven felony charges

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The charges against the brothers stemmed from allegations that they used MEV bots to extract about $25 million in crypto from the Ethereum blockchain in 2023. The prosecutors’ theory of the case, presented to the jury, was that the two individuals had “tricked” the system by presenting themselves as “honest validators” on the blockchain.

How long can juries deliberate?

At the time of publication, it was unclear whether the jury would reach a verdict by the end of the day. In a note to the judge on Thursday, they said they could stay until 7:30 pm ET on Friday

While there is generally no law limiting the amount of time a jury may take to deliberate, a judge can intervene to expedite proceedings or grant a motion for a mistrial if the jury indicates that it is deadlocked. In the Peraire-Buenos’ case, Clarke has not issued an Allen charge — “instructions given to a hung jury urging them to agree on a verdict,” according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute.

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