- Prosecutors urge the court to uphold the conviction of Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash.
- Storm was found guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business but not on more severe charges related to money laundering and sanctions evasion.
- Storm’s legal team argues insufficient proof of criminal intent and asserts protections under free speech, claims prosecutors reject.
- The prosecution insists evidence showed Storm controlled Tornado Cash and rejects the defense’s negligence theory.
- The Department of Justice has signaled it will avoid similar charges against decentralized software in the future.
In a recent legal development in New York, federal prosecutors contested a motion to overturn the conviction of Roman Storm, developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. The challenge responded to Storm’s request to dismiss his conviction and two additional charges that had divided jurors during his trial in August. Prosecutors filed a 113-page brief urging Judge Katherine Polk Failla to maintain the ruling based on the strength of the evidence presented.
Storm was convicted of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. However, jurors could not reach a verdict on conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to evade sanctions, charges that together could result in up to 40 years in prison. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry him on these counts.
Storm’s defense argued that the government failed to prove he acted with criminal intent and challenged the trial’s jurisdiction in New York. His lawyers claimed the government did not demonstrate that Storm encouraged criminal use of Tornado Cash, a service that obscures blockchain transactions. They described the prosecution’s case as based on a “negligence theory,” which they assert is insufficient for a criminal conviction. Additionally, Storm’s team revived a free speech defense related to his creation of the software, a point Judge Failla had previously barred from jury consideration.
Prosecutors countered that Storm’s arguments repackaged positions rejected during initial proceedings and that evidence showed he and co-conspirators controlled Tornado Cash. They cited private messages revealing decisions affecting the mixer’s decentralization and attempts to control illicit activity. The prosecution dismissed the negligence claim and emphasized that the case involved the practical use of software, not protected expressive conduct.
The Department of Justice recently issued guidance suggesting it will not approve money transmission charges against truly decentralized and automated peer-to-peer software lacking third-party control of assets, though charges involving criminal intent remain possible. Storm’s legal team previously succeeded in having a guilty verdict vacated in a related cryptocurrency case involving Mango Markets.
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