Roman storm condemned in Tornado Cash Case

Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm has been found guilty of exploiting a money without a permit.

This follows four days of deliberations, in which the jury members in the case were unable to make a statement about some charges, which resulted in an impasse.

A division with industrial implications

Storm was charged with three charges: conspiracy to carry out money, conspiracy to exploit a money without a permit and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

According to the courtroom report By Inner City Press, after extended deliberations, jury members found Storm only guilty of Count 2, with counts 1 and 3 resulting in non-unanimous decisions.

After the verdict, the government lawyers immediately moved to bring storm to prison and claimed that he entailed a considerable escape risk. They quoted his Russian origin, access to millions in cryptocurrency, including Ethereum (ETH) holdings, links to co-founder Roman Semenov’s $ 10.4 million wallet and reports from the past who discuss ‘options for asylum’ and criticize the American immigration verification.

Nevertheless, Storm’s Defense Team, led by lawyer Brian Klein, fought successfully to keep him out of custody pending conviction. In the end, Judge Katherine Polk Faila concluded that the developer was not a escape risk and stated: “There is many fights about it in this case.”

A conviction date has yet to be planned and it remains uncertain whether the authorities will try to try the storm again about the remaining allegations.

The 36-year-old was arrested in 2023 and in charge of helping cyber criminals in money laundering more than $ 1 billion through Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that he helped develop. Among the bad actors who would have used the tool, the Lazarus group, a hacking unit was linked to the North Korean government.

In their final arguments earlier this week, public prosecutors argued that Storm was fully aware of the illegal use of the service and benefited personally from their operation. They claimed that he earned millions, while knowingly made knowing transactions that are linked to hostile foreign actors.

A dark future for crypto developers

Although limited to one count, the conviction raised eyebrows between the crypto -privacy and development communities. Acting US Attorney and former SEC chairman Jay Clayton praised the persecution team in a statement and explained:

“This office and our partner agencies are dedicated to hold responsible for those who operate emerging technologies to commit crime.”

Proponents of privacy and legal experts, however, expressed deep concern. Coin Center, a leading think tank of the crypto policy, outlined critical collection restaurants, row The conviction depended on a disputed legal interpretation of “money transmission” that ignored Fincen’s own guidelines in which there are no channels with developers without control over user funds.

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and Chief Legal Officer at the Defi Education Fund, said that the organization will continue to support Storm while preparing for his conviction. She described the indictment as fundamentally defective and argued that it should never have been tried.

The verdict follows a separate legal development involving the makers of Samourai portion, a Bitcoin-based privacy tool. Only a week earlier admitted co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill that feelings were feelings of conspiracy charges with regard to the operation of a money without a permit after reaching an agreement with the authorities.