The Special Committee of the U.S. Senate investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riot subpoenaed two far-right activists Nicolas Fuentes and Patrick Casey to testify. The latter received funding in Bitcoin, according to Chainalysis.
“The Special Committee is seeking facts about the planning, coordination, and financing of the events that preceded the violent assault on democracy. We believe the individuals we subpoenaed possess information relevant to these matters. We expect them to cooperate with us,” said committee chair Bennie Thompson.
On January 6, Trump supporters breached the Capitol, where Congress was certifying the presidential election results.
According to Chainalysis, a month before the riot an unknown French blogger transferred 28.15 BTC to the Capitol riot participants. The largest amount (13.5 BTC) went to Fuentes — during the protests he spoke on a plaza near the Capitol, analysts said.
In Fuentes’s subpoena there is a direct link to this donation:
“Fuentes, you, reportedly, received a large Bitcoin donation of more than $250,000 less than a month before the Capitol attack. The FBI is thoroughly examining this transfer to determine whether the money was tied to the incident or used to finance illicit activity.”
A similar formulation appears in Casey’s subpoena.
Earlier in February 2021, U.S. lawmakers demanded that Tron founder Justin Sun explain moderation of content on the streaming platform DLive.
Follow ForkLog news on Twitter.