- A U.S. attorney has filed suit to compel the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to honor an FOIA request regarding the identity of the creator of Bitcoin
- DHS allegedly interviewed Satoshi Nakamoto in California in 2019, and James A. Murphy has filed for details
- The request follows several documentaries supposedly outing Bitcoin’s creator
A U.S. attorney has filed a federal lawsuit demanding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release records allegedly detailing a 2019 interview with the pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The complaint, filed by James A. Murphy in the District of Columbia on April 7, claims DHS and its subagency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have unlawfully ignored a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted in February. Murphy’s demand comes at a time when interest in Satoshi’s identity is at its highest level ever, with several documentaries produced supposedly outing him in recent months.
DHS Allegedly Interviewed Bitcoin’s Creator
Murphy’s lawsuit stems from public remarks made in 2019 by DHS Special Agent Rana Saoud during a presentation at the OffshoreAlert Conference, with the lawsuit quoting Saoud:
As it came to be, the agents flew out to California, and they realized that he wasn’t alone in creating this. There were three other people. They sat down and met with them and talked to them to find out how this actually works and what their reason for it was.
According to the complaint, DHS has never publicly confirmed or released any documentation of this meeting, adding another layer of mystery to this already most mysterious of cases. This interview is rarely cited by Satoshi hunters, suggesting its more secretive nature, but intriguingly, it fits with Satoshi’s known work/sleep pattern: a California-based Satoshi would have gone to bed at around midnight and woken up around 5-6 a.m.
FOIA Request Ignore
In February 2025, Murphy filed a FOIA request seeking four categories of records, including transcripts, recordings, notes, and correspondence related to the alleged interview with Nakamoto. He emphasized the public importance of the information, noting that both federal and state governments are considering or have initiated major investments in Bitcoin.
The Department acknowledged receipt of the request and assigned it tracking number 2025-HQFO-02468 but later referred it to ICE. ICE responded that a similar request was already being processed under a different number—one that Murphy’s counsel says is not identical and has yet to result in any responsive records.
In the filing, Murphy outlined the reasons for his case:
Given the massive public and private investment in Bitcoin, it is important … to understand better what the federal government knows about the identity of the actor(s) responsible for creating Bitcoin.
The court filing seeks a judicial order compelling DHS to conduct a lawful search and produce all non-exempt records related to the request.
