Crypto Litigation
7 articles
Crypto Asset Forfeiture in California: How the Government Seizes Digital Assets, and How Owners Fight Back
When the government seizes cryptocurrency, the case caption names the coins, not you, and the deadlines decide almost everything. A litigator maps the three forfeiture machines (federal civil, federal criminal, California state), the claim deadlines that can run from a website posting you never saw, and the realistic routes to getting seized crypto back.
Crypto Exchange Subpoenas: How to Get the Records, and How to Fight One
Exchange records decide crypto cases, and they are less protected than bank records. A litigator walks both sides of a crypto exchange subpoena: how to serve one that actually produces the ledger, and what an account holder can and cannot do to stop one.
Hidden Crypto Assets in California Divorces and Business Splits: How They Get Found, and What Hiding Them Costs
One in ten U.S. adults used cryptocurrency last year, and California's divorce disclosure form still has no line for it. A litigator explains where hidden crypto actually surfaces (exchange subpoenas, the new 1099-DA, the tax-return checkbox), and why California's remedy math makes concealing a volatile asset uniquely expensive.
The Borderless-Internet Defense Just Died in the Ninth Circuit
For twenty years, online operators beat lawsuits by insisting the internet is everywhere and nowhere. Briskin v. Shopify ended that in the Ninth Circuit, Gelasio v. Zafar showed it reaches a foreign NFT operation that took a Californian's money, and in May 2026 the Supreme Court declined an invitation to intervene. Here is what changed, how far it reaches, and the seam that is still open.
How to Recover Stolen Cryptocurrency: A California Legal Guide
Stolen crypto is recoverable where it touches the regulated financial system, and only while it sits there. A California litigator's honest guide to freezes, treble damages under Penal Code section 496, constructive trusts, the FBI lane, and the recovery scams that target victims twice.
How to Sue an Offshore, Foreign, or Anonymous Defendant in California
Foreign incorporation and offshore residence no longer put an internet operator beyond California's reach. A step-by-step guide to jurisdiction, service, and anonymous defendants, from the attorney who argued Gelasio v. Zafar in the Ninth Circuit.
When the SEC Won't Act: Private Litigation Options for Crypto Investors
The SEC dismissed its own crypto cases in 2025, Coinbase and Binance among them. Private litigation is now the primary accountability tool. Here's the legal toolkit for investors.
Lost Assets or in a Crypto Dispute?
From exchange failures to token disputes — counsel who worked the FTX, Genesis, and Celsius bankruptcies.
Discuss Your Matter