U.S. prosecutors asked a federal judge to set an October date for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s retrial on two unresolved criminal charges after a jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts during the original hearing, according to a letter filed Monday in the Southern District of New York.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, asked for a date now to “avoid further unnecessary delays,” even though Storm, who is currently out on bail, has a pending motion for an acquittal. Oral arguments on that motion are scheduled for April 9.
Storm is a co-founder of Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer designed to hide the origin and destination of blockchain transactions. In August, a jury convicted Storm on one count related to operating an unlicensed money transmission business and failed to agree on verdicts for two other counts, leaving alleged violations of the money laundering sanctions law unresolved. He is currently free on bail pending further proceedings.
Storm criticized the planned new trial in an X post on Tuesday, saying the jury’s split decision reflected uncertainty about the government’s case.
“A jury of 12 Americans heard four weeks of evidence and deadlocked: no verdict on money laundering and no verdict on sanctions violations,” Storm wrote. “The government’s response? Try again to make code writing a crime.”
Storm also referred to a US Treasury report that acknowledges that pooling services like Tornado Cash can serve legal purposes on public blockchains. The report came after years of opposition to cryptocurrency mixers.
Defense attorneys told prosecutors it would be premature to set a trial date before the April motion is resolved.
