On May 5, a New York judge dismissed criminal extortion charges against Steven Nerayoff, an early adviser to the ethereum network, ending a three-and-a-half-year legal battle that included his explosive charges against U.S. investigators. U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie, Chief Judge of the Eastern District of New York, admitted in a March 20 filing to the court that they had obtained significant evidence to prove Steven Nerayoff's innocence, and beyond that "could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the indictment The allegations in the report are true," and six weeks later, federal prosecutors dropped the charges against Nelayov. Nerayoff and his employee, Michael Hlady, were initially accused of blackmailing a Seattle-based crypto startup Nerayoff was hired in 2017 to guide the company through its initial coin offering (ICO). Prosecutors said the pair threatened to "destroy" the company if they did not pay millions of dollars.