On Friday, September 26, 2025, Law360 reported that a judge largely denied a suspended Pennsylvania attorney’s requests to exclude certain evidence from his upcoming cryptocurrency fraud trial. U.S. District Judge W. Scott Hardy, presiding over the case in Pennsylvania federal court, issued the rulings, addressing nine in limine motions filed by Sean Hvizdzak.
Sean Hvizdzak, along with his brother Shane Hvizdzak, faces accusations from the government of defrauding investors through their cryptocurrency investment fund, High Street Capital Fund USA LP. The judge denied, denied as moot, and denied without prejudice the various exclusion requests submitted by Sean Hvizdzak.
Judge Hardy stated that Sean Hvizdzak should have filed motions to strike certain allegations earlier if he believed they were improper or prejudicial. The requests for exclusion included claims related to a 2020 deed transfer by Shane Hvizdzak, for which Sean Hvizdzak claimed to have handled paperwork. Also included were claims regarding evidence, testimony, and arguments stemming from the period after the brothers’ accounts were frozen and the FBI executed a search warrant, as well as claims involving allegedly backdated deeds.
The court also denied as moot Sean Hvizdzak’s request to exclude his stipulation from a parallel civil action brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a year before the criminal indictment. The government stated that it did not intend to introduce any stipulation from the SEC matter. Similarly, the request to exclude evidence and testimony about the temporary suspension of his law license was denied as moot, as the government confirmed it did not plan to raise the issue at trial.
The court largely rejected Sean Hvizdzak’s attempts to exclude certain emails and text messages, including texts in which he referred to individuals as the “Jew Crew.” The government argued that the phrase was “probative” because it identified individuals to whom the defendants sent investor money. Judge Hardy referenced a 2024 opinion in United States v. Strickland, noting that courts typically redact racial epithets when there is concern that their use would prejudice the jury against the defendant, potentially leading jurors to perceive the defendant as racist.
Sean Hvizdzak was given leave to revise one category of his exclusion requests that the court found lacked the necessary specificity, pertaining to specific text messages.
Sean Hvizdzak and Shane Hvizdzak were indicted in August 2021 on 65 counts, including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering. Sean Hvizdzak individually faces one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, 26 counts of wire fraud, and four counts of money laundering.
Jury selection and trial are scheduled to begin on October 20.
Source: Law360
