Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm won’t stand trial for money laundering and sanctions violation charges until April 2025.
In a Nov. 1 telephone conference for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Katherine Polk Failla ordered Storm’s trial adjourned until April 14, 2025. The Tornado Cash co-founder’s legal team had been petitioning to dismiss his charges, claiming they were based solely on him writing code for the cryptocurrency mixing service.
In 2023, prosecutors charged Storm and Tornado co-founder Roman Semenov with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The indictment prompted outrage from many in the crypto industry.
From Tornado Cash sanctions to charging the creators
Storm’s and Semenov’s charges followed the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control adding Tornado Cash to its Specially Designated Nationals list in August 2022. The government department claimed the mixer had “repeatedly failed to impose effective controls designed to stop it from laundering funds for malicious cyber actors.”
Related: Vitalik Buterin donates 100 ETH to Roman Storm defense fund
At the time of publication, Semenov was not in US custody and on the FBI’s most wanted list. Storm has been free on a $2-million bond following his 2023 arrest and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In the Netherlands, authorities arrested Tornado Cash co-founder Alexey Pertsev for money laundering charges in 2022. He was found guilty in May 2024 and sentenced to more than five years in prison.
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