Roman Storm, one of the co-founders of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, has filed a motion to dismiss all three charges against him. These charges allege that he operated a money laundering business and violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
In a filing made on March 29 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Storm’s lawyers argued that he cannot be accused of conspiring to launder funds. They stated that Tornado Cash was developed and made publicly available before it was used by the hacking groups sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Therefore, Storm allegedly had little control over preventing a “sanctioned entity from using it” at the time of the alleged misconduct.
The charges against Storm are based on allegations that Tornado Cash facilitated the efforts of the North Korean Lazarus Group to bypass U.S. sanctions, enabling the country’s regime to fund its nuclear program.
Storm’s lawyers further contended that Tornado Cash cannot be considered a money-transmitting business since it did not charge a fee for transmitting funds, and users had complete control over their cryptocurrency.
They argued that Storm’s intention was to develop software solutions that would provide financial privacy for law-abiding crypto users. Therefore, they believe the charges against him are flawed and should be dismissed.
In September 2023, Storm pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a $2 million bond shortly after his arrest. His movements are currently restricted to certain areas of New York, New Jersey, Washington, and California.
The U.S. government’s crackdown on crypto-mixing services continues, with the recent conviction of the founder of Bitcoin Fog, a $400 million crypto-mixing service, for money laundering.
Despite these legal actions, the crypto community recognizes the value of crypto mixers in providing increased privacy and confidentiality for legitimate purposes, such as anonymous business transactions.
At one point, the Arbitrum DAO considered allocating approximately $1.3 million worth of ARB tokens to support Storm’s legal expenses. However, the proposal was ultimately abandoned for undisclosed reasons.
Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers