12 ju umpires, including members who celebrated their 90th birthday, deliberated this week in a complicated case of Tornado Cash co-founder, Lowmastern. They convicted Storm on one count of running an unauthorized remittance business while failing to reach other charges’ decisions.
According to court documents released by Judge Catherine Faira on Thursday, the ju judge in the storm case sent several requests for information before declaring it deadlocked in two charges.
Among the letters to the judges were requests for a transcription of the testimony of several witnesses, clarification of what led to the charges, and specific questions about the wallet included in North Korea’s sanctions.
After finishing the statement at the trial wrapped up on July 30, the ju judges deliberated for a week, then declared they were stuck on money laundering and sanctions. Each request for information or clarification was delayed in decisions, but there appears to be no proposals to get stuck until Wednesday morning.
A note from the Rome Storm Ju umpire before the verdict on August 6th. Source: SDNY
“We have continued deliberation and made our best efforts to reach a unanimous decision, but even after making a sincere effort to consider all the discussion, there are ju-decides who remain in stone at their decision.
Why did ju umpire get stuck on money laundering?
According to the ju-degree accusations, 12 individuals must agree beyond their reasonable doubt that Storm had joined the “consensus or understanding” to commit money laundering with others, and he “willfully and intentionally” participated in that illegal purpose.
“Common sense tells us that when people actually embark on or agree to conclude a criminal conspiracy, a lot is left to an unexpressed understanding,” the ju-described judge said. “Co-conspirators usually don’t reduce their contracts for writing. They don’t usually broadcast plans publicly.”
Coupled with the request for information, detailed instructions may partly explain some of the difficulties ju-described as to whether Storm’s role in the mixed crypto service amounts to a conspiracy to commit money laundering and violate US sanctions.
The ju apprentice’s name was edited from all court filings, but the judge indicated that one of them had celebrated her 90th birthday during deliberations.
A hearing for Storm’s sentencing on a single felony charge was not scheduled as of Friday. It was also unclear whether the US government intended to retry the tornado cash co-founder with the remaining claims.
Cointelegraph contacted Storm’s legal team for comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
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