Roman Storm, one of the co-founders of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, has taken action to dismiss the three charges against him. These charges accuse Storm of operating a money laundering business and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Storm’s legal team argued in a filing on March 29 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York that he cannot be accused of conspiring to launder funds. They pointed out that Tornado Cash was developed and made publicly available before it was used by the hacking groups that the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned. Therefore, Storm allegedly had limited control over preventing a sanctioned entity from using the platform.
The charges revolve around Tornado Cash allegedly facilitating the efforts of the North Korean Lazarus Group to bypass US sanctions. This reportedly allowed the North Korean regime to fund its nuclear program.
Furthermore, Storm’s lawyers argued that Tornado Cash cannot be considered a money-transmitting business since it does not charge a fee for transmitting funds, and users have complete control over their cryptocurrency.
The defense team claimed that Storm’s intention was to develop software solutions that would provide financial privacy for law-abiding cryptocurrency users. They believe that the charges 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. However, his travel is largely restricted to specific areas in New York, New Jersey, Washington, and California.
This case comes as the US government continues its crackdown on cryptocurrency mixing services. In March, the founder of Bitcoin Fog, a $400 million crypto-mixing service, was convicted of money laundering.
Despite these legal challenges, the crypto community recognizes the value of crypto mixers in providing increased privacy and confidentiality for legitimate reasons, particularly for 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.
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