Early Ethereum Consultant Sues Covington & Burling for $100 Million
Early Ethereum consultant Steven Nerayoff has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the law firm Covington & Burling for mishandling his defense in a 2019 US racketeering case. Nerayoff claims that the firm's lawyer Alan Vinegrad advised him not to hand over key evidence to prosecutors, leading to his indictment. Nerayoff's allegations were denied by Covington, which called his lawsuit "baseless" and said it would "vigorously" fight it.
In the lawsuit, Nerayoff argued that the case could have been avoided if his legal team had provided evidence proving his innocence in a timely manner early in the case. The amount of damages he is seeking will be determined at trial, but will not be less than $100 million. Over time, Nerayoff has been deeply affected by the case, claiming to have lost multiple business contracts and related opportunities. This year, he has also filed a $9.6 billion lawsuit against the government in other cases. This series of events has once again sparked an important public discussion about the quality of legal services and the protection of client rights.