New York-A jury of 12 people has been sitting for the criminal trial of the Tornado cash developer Roman Storm, and the opening arguments will begin later this afternoon in the Palace of Justice of Thurgood Marshall in the Lower Manhattan.
Seven women and five men with a wide range of background and ages will decide whether the United States Department of Justice can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the storm participated in the conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate the sanctions of the United States and the conspiracy to operate money without license that transmits businesses. The jury selection began on Monday.
Of the jury members, only one works as IT manager, while another works at the Palantir Surveillance and Data Firm. The rest has different educational history ranging from high school diplomas to a master’s degree, and their ages range from individuals 20 to 60 years.
The court took the break after the jury sat down, but the opening arguments will begin shortly and are expected to end before closing the business on Tuesday. The trial itself is expected to last approximately four weeks.
Read more: right to code? Tornado Money Laundering trial Cash Dev Roman Storm begins on Monday
Opening arguments occur when Storm’s defense team tries to dismiss some of the evidence prosecutors who intend to introduce during the trial, including communications between Storm and his co -developer of Cash Tornado, Alexey Pertsev.
The defense has argued that a part of the messages obtained from Pertsev “does not mistakenly identify and characterize who wrote the messages”, including an investigation of a Coindesk Coindesk reporter for Tornado cash developers after the Hack of the Ronin of Axie Infinity bridge.
In his storm accusation, prosecutors characterized that the investigation came from Pertsev:
“[Pertsev] sent a message to the storm and [Tornado Cash developer Roman Semenov] Through the encrypted application, saying ‘Heya, someone around to chat about Axie? I would like to ask some general questions about how one comes from 600 thousand ‘, “said the accusation in paragraph 57.
The message was actually a former Coindesk reporter, sent to a group chat that included others (now trainer) COINDESK reporters and editors, as well as Storm and Pertsev.
“That chat is just an example of many,” the defense argued in a presentation on Friday.
CORRECTION (July 15, 2025, 18:15 UTC): Correct a truncated prayer on the educational history of the jury.
