- Roman Storm’s legal team may seek a mistrial due to a disputed witness connection to Tornado Cash.
- The witness, Hanfeng Lin, claims losses from a crypto scam traced to Tornado Cash, but defense challenges this link.
- Prosecutors maintain the witness’s testimony is valid and filed additional evidence to support their claim.
- Storm faces charges including conspiracy to launder money and violating U.S. sanctions, with a maximum sentence of 45 years.
- The outcome could impact the future development of privacy-focused crypto technologies.
Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, is on trial in New York facing charges related to money laundering, running an unlicensed money transmission business, and violating U.S. sanctions. His attorneys announced they may ask for a mistrial after prosecutors brought forward a witness whose connection to the disputed protocol is in question.
The case, entering its second week, drew attention when the government’s first witness, Hanfeng Lin, described how she lost cryptocurrency in a scam and was told some of her stolen funds had passed through Tornado Cash, a crypto privacy tool. Prosecutors believe Lin’s testimony proves that criminal proceeds ended up in Tornado Cash, showing Storm was alerted to the protocol’s misuse. Storm, if convicted, faces up to 45 years in prison.
Storm’s attorney, David Patton, challenged the relevance of Lin’s testimony. He stated the defense team could not find any evidence linking Lin’s stolen crypto to Tornado Cash. “They called a very sympathetic alleged victim who, from our research over the weekend, we can’t find a connection between her funds and Tornado Cash,” Patton told the judge. He indicated the defense would seek to remove her testimony and might move for a mistrial.
The controversy over Lin’s role was echoed by crypto security expert Taylor Monahan, who publicly questioned the validity of the government’s witness choice in a post on social media, saying she could not trace Lin’s crypto to Tornado Cash. Another crypto analyst, ZachXBT, supported this analysis.
Prosecutors stood by their decision to call Lin, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Than Rehn stating they have filed evidence showing Lin’s funds did reach Tornado Cash and that a government witness would clarify this further. The trial is set to last three weeks.
Crypto advocates warn that a guilty verdict in this case could disrupt further development of online privacy software and decentralized finance tools. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is among the high-profile donors supporting Storm’s legal defense.
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