Federal prosecutors seek a retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm after a split jury failed to convict him on the most severe money laundering and sanctions charges. Storm, who was convicted on a lesser charge, argues he is being prosecuted for writing open-source code. The retrial could begin in October, pending a hearing on a motion to dismiss the case.
Prosecutors from the Southern District of New York have filed to retry Roman Storm, co-founder of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash. This comes less than a week after the US Treasury Department acknowledged crypto mixers can serve legitimate privacy purposes.
Jurors in Storm’s first trial last July were split on charges of conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to evade sanctions. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. They did convict him on a third charge of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Storm decried the decision on social media, stating, “A jury already couldn’t agree this was criminal.” He added that he is being pursued for writing open-source code for a protocol he does not control.
Prosecutors requested in a court letter that a new trial begin on October 5 or 12. They expect the proceedings to last three weeks. However, a hearing on Storm’s motion to dismiss all charges is scheduled for April 9.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla recently dismissed a similar class-action lawsuit targeting the creators of Uniswap. She ruled that plaintiffs could not hold defendants liable for the misconduct of unidentified third-party issuers. This legal reasoning parallels arguments made by Storm’s defense team.
During the first trial, defense attorney David Patton acknowledged that Tornado Cash was useful to criminals. He argued this was also true of common items like mobile phones. The protocol makes it difficult to trace transactions on Ethereum and other blockchains.
