New York, New York-The criminal money laundering of Tornado developer Cash Roman Storm is scheduled to start in Manhattan on Monday morning, when Storm lawyers and prosecutors will begin to select a jury to supervise the four-week trial of Storm.
Storm was arrested in the state of Washington in 2023 and accused of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate the sanctions of the United States and the conspiracy to operate money without a license that transmits businesses, charges that, if the storm is convicted, entails a maximum combined sentence of 45 years in prison. The Cash Tornado de Storm developer, the Roman Roman Senov of Russia, faces the same positions but is still in general. Another developer, Alexey Pertsev, was sentenced for money laundering in the Netherlands in 2024 and sentenced to five years in prison, which is currently appealing.
In the heart of Storm’s case, a criptomonetas oriented to privacy, which the government alleged that it was used to wash more than $ 1 billion in criminal gains for bad actors, including the Lazarus group, the Lázaro group, the piracy operation sanctioned by North Korea, which, according to them, constituted a violation of the sanctions of the United States, while while that his colleagues and colleagues became a blind eye hoisted by the State. Meanwhile, Storm’s lawyers have argued that he was simply a decentralized and open source software developer with legitimate and preservative uses of privacy that should not be responsible for the use of bad actors.
“There will certainly be a very vigorous defense here that they were writing code and that [Tornado Cash] It was designed for privacy, which some people may have taken advantage of, but [Storm and his colleagues] They were not co-conspirators, “said Mark Bini, partner of the Reed Smith’s global application and global application group.” Mixers have been very controversial because they have been used by many people who do bad things, without a doubt, but the idea that some people want to use them for privacy, that is a legitimate argument. That will be a fierce battle here. “
Storm’s trial has caught the attention of many in the cryptographic industry, who have expressed concern that, if the storm is convicted, it could mean that developers in the future are in the hook of how people use their programs, something that could have devastating consequences for both privacy tools and decentralized finances. (Defi) space as a whole. A large number of important actors in the industry, including the Paradigm investment firm, and the non -profit defense groups of Coin Center and the Defi Education Fund, have presented Amicus Briefs in defense of Storm.
Others, however, have been more reluctant to accept the defense of the privacy of Storm. Economics Writer JP Koenig Wrote In A 2024 Post That Blog, If Storm prevails at trial, It Could “Potentially Mean that Anyone Who Waks To Facilitate Illegal Activities Would have a Strong incentive to copy tornado cash, Effectively Turning Their Operation Operation into ‘Golem’ Deathless Artificial Being Run on Smart Contracts – and The Throwing Away The Keys To Avoid The Law. ”
The SWISS Blockchain Global Ledger analytics firm wrote in a blog post that exist, in general, “many more reasons why cybercriminals may want to use a mixing service that developers who legitimately want to obfuscate the movement of their personal funds.”
Changing winds
Storm’s judgment begins as the United States government continues to review its focus of the cryptographic industry, particularly cryptographic regulation. Under the president of the United States, Donald Trump, the White House has adopted a more friendly position towards the industry (which poured the a whopping $ 130 million in the Congress’ careers in the 2024 elections and at least $ 18 million in the Trump Solo Inaugural Committee), pushing the regulators and the application of the law to do the same.
Since Trump assumed the position in January, the US Stock Exchange and Securities Commission, which had assumed a Bogey man status under former President Gary Gensler for his so -called “application regulation practice”, has formed a friendly working group with the industry and has dropped a series of open cases and research in cryptographic companies. In an April memorandum for the personnel, Deputy Attorney General Blanche ordered the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) The personnel to “reduce” their focus on cryptographic, instructing that the agency would no longer charge regulatory violations in cases involving cryptography.
Although some speculated that prosecutors would go back against their case against Storm following Blanche memorandum, the government advanced, dropping only a part of a position. Prosecutors also chose to continue their case against the storm in March after the Office of External Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury. (OFAC) He eliminated Tornado’s cash from his list of sanctioned entities, after a federal judge ruled that the agency could not sanction an intelligent contract.
“Frankly, I was surprised to advance after seeing that [Tornado Cash] He was taken from the ofacy list, “said Bini.” We still do not know the evidence of the government, but we have seen that the Trump administration really moves away from this type of regulatory cases. And this seems one that is at the edges of that because the conspiracy to operate a money transmission business without a license [charge] It looks like the regulatory case of which perhaps the administration is getting out of the business. “
Storm in trial
During a conference prior to trial last week, the Judge of the Katherine Polk Failla district of the Southern New York District (SDNY) He ruled that none of the parties could mention the sanctions of the OFAC, whether Tornado’s cash was sanctioned first or that the sanctions were subsequently eliminated, during the Storm trial, arguing that he would confuse the jury. Failla also ruled that none of the parties could mention the result of a related civil case, Van Loon vs. Treasury Department.
Bini told Coindesk that Failla’s decision to maintain the sanctions of the OFAC outside the trial is likely to help the government’s case more than the storm.
If the defense could tell the jury that the sanctions of Ofac were withdrawn later, Bini said: “I think you are more likely to have the jury they say ‘God, I am not sure whether this is illegal or not.’ And if they are not sure, well, then the accused is not guilty.
Bini said that if the trial results in a conviction, the failed ruling presents possible reasons for Storm Apellen lawyers.
“The defense can say: ‘Hey, we should have had the right to present that to the jury, we believe it is important evidence,” he said. “This is the type of case in which even if the government receives a conviction as it usually does, there can really be some legal diseases.”
If the jury finds Storm guilty, Bini said there could be another option beyond an appeal: a presidential forgiveness. Trump has forgiven several people in the cryptographic industry since he assumed the position in January, including the co -founders of Bitmex and the founder of the Silk route, Ross Ulbricht.
“Let’s say it results in a conviction, that does not mean that the president does not get involved later,” Bini said. “That is a wild card that we could see here if the case results in a conviction.”
At a final conference prior to the trial on Friday, Storm’s lawyers made a final effort to dismiss the case after the government revealed that their place theory (Basically, the justification of the Prosecutor’s Office to bring the case in the Southern District of New York) It depended on three tests: Storm’s texts to a capitalist with headquarters in New York, Storm’s interview with a Bloomberg reporter based in New York and the fact that a hacker agreed to Tornado Cash from New York.
Failla finally failed against the defense motion, allowing the government’s case against the storm to proceed to trial.
The next four weeks
Storm’s trial, initially scheduled for two weeks, is expected to run a full month due to the large number of witnesses in the case. Only the government told the court that planned to call more than 20 people to testify, including a hacker that Cash Tornado used, a call “victim” and a large number of expert witnesses.
The jury selection is expected to take two days, with opening arguments probably scheduled for Wednesday.
Storm has not yet indicated in any way if he will testify in his own defense, but Bini said it could be a great help for his defense.
“I think there is a very good opportunity [Storm] will testify. Then, [he’s] I will have to endure a really rigid cross [examination]But that could be really powerful in a case like this, “said Bini.” The load is in the government, not the [defense]But they might want to take the position and tell the jury its story. “
