How the DOJ and SEC Cases Against BitClout's Nader Al-Naji Collapsed

Unchained

Laura Shin

Business News, News, Tech News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Debanked 12 times. Walked through an airport in handcuffs. Every charge eventually gone. Nader Al-Naji on the defense strategy that convinced both agencies to back off. ======================================================== Nexo is the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your crypto, borrow against it without selling, and trade a range of assets. Now available in the U.S with 30 days of exclusive privileges. Get started at http://nexo.com/unchained ======================================================== In July 2024, Nader Al-Naji was preparing to board a flight to Turkey when the FBI arrested him in front of with his wife and son and walked him in handcuffs through the airport. The DOJ and SEC had jointly charged the DESO and BitClout founder with defrauding investors of $3 million and running an unregistered securities offering. Twenty months later, both cases are gone: the DOJ dismissed in March 2025, the SEC dismissed with prejudice — meaning it can’t be refiled — in March 2026. Nader tells Laura what actually happened, from the FBI raid on his Beverly Hills home and the clerical error that sent him to federal prison for a weekend, to the legal strategy that convinced both agencies to back off. He also revisits the BitClout celebrity era, the long call with Do Kwon before Terra launched, and the debanking tactic he calls ‘subpoena sniping.’ Host: ⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Nader Al-Naji (@nadertheory), Founder of DESO and BitClout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained. You're an O'Hipresource for All Things Crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin. Thanks for joining this live stream. Before we get started, a quick reminder, nothing you hear on Unchained is investment advice. This show is for informational and entertainment purposes only, and my guest and I may hold assets discussed on the show. For more disclosures, visit Unchainedcropto.com.
0:22.4	Introducing Nexo, the premier digital wealth platform. Receive interest on your digital assets.
0:28.7	Borrow against them without selling. Trade a variety of cryptocurrencies, all in one platform.
0:34.7	Now available in the U.S. Get started today at nexo.com slash unchained.
0:41.7	EtherFi is giving Unchained listeners 15% cash back on food and ride apps,
0:46.8	and that's on top of the 3% you get on everything else.
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1:18.1	Today's guest is Nader Al-Naji, founder of the DeSo blockchain.
1:22.1	Welcome, Natter.
1:23.6	Hi. Thanks for having me, Laura.
1:26.2	Yeah, excited to chat with you. So you founded BitCloud and the
1:30.3	D-Sov blockchain. And before that basis, which was I think maybe the first algorithmic
1:36.2	stablecoin. But at this point, you might be more known for something that you didn't do,
1:46.2	or at least something that the government said you did, but then didn't have enough evidence to actually follow through on the cases
1:51.7	with. So even though we will get to that in our discussion, so at this point in time, just so
1:57.6	people know the cases that the SEC and the Department of Justice brought against Natter have been dismissed.
2:05.1	But in order to explain how we even got to this situation where all of this happened, we
	...

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