Steven Nerayoff seeks $10M from crypto sleuth in defamation lawsuit

Ethereum co-founder Steven Nerayoff has filed a lawsuit seeking $10 million from a crypto analyst who accused him of being an extortionist and government plant that aided an assassination attempt against him.

Nerayoff filed the defamation lawsuit in a New York District court yesterday against crypto analyst Truth Labs, real name Tyler Fayard.

He claims Fayard made multiple false allegations against him, calling him a criminal and ‘inhumane fraud’ on X (formerly Twitter) over the past few months. In one instance Fayard implied Nerayoff had taken part in an assassination attempt against him during a running race.

Fayard posted, “Two days after I tweeted the below Tweet about Peter Pablo, an assassination attempt on me took place while running in a Marathon. I only told one other person, @StevenNerayoff, that I would be running in that Marathon.”

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As a result of the allegations, Nerayoff says Fayard has caused “emotional, mental, and economic harm,” and is seeking a minimum of $10 million in punitive damages against Fayard.

He also wants an injunction, “actual, compensatory and consequential” damages against Fayard “not less than $10,000,000 per occurrence,” and a trial by jury.

Nerayoff and Truth Labs previously worked together

Nerayoff was arrested by the FBI and charged with extortion in 2019 for his work on the Storm X ICO. The government, however, dropped these charges in March 2023. Both Nerayoff and Fayard then began working together to determine if Nerayoff’s previous charges were filed maliciously.

This lasted for several months until the alleged defamatory comments were made by Fayard. Nerayoff denies all of the allegations, including those about him being a government agent or having been ‘inserted’ into Fayard’s life.

Following the lawsuit, Nerayoff posted, “It is time to draw a line in the sand. The moment has arrived to unmask the anonymous false prophets who thrive on fabricated stories to raise their own profile. Consequences for defamation apply in the digital realm.”

We have reached out to Tyler Fayard for comment on the lawsuit.

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