Federal prosecutors have filed a 113-page brief asking U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Feira to deny Roman Storm’s motion to overturn his August 2025 conviction for operating an illegal money transfer business.
The jury at the time deadlocked on two more serious charges: money laundering and sanctions evasion.
Ministry of Justice insists on “functional authority” rather than decentralization
Prosecutors say the evidence against Storm was overwhelming, emphasizing that they believe Storm and co-defendants maintained functional authority over Tornado Cash, despite their claims that the platform was decentralized in nature.
Back in August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash for facilitating the illegal cryptocurrency laundering of over $7 billion, including funds associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Related: Ethereum drops 13% this week, with 4,920 ETH worth $16.25 million leaked from Tornado Cash
Interestingly, this case is now being seen by many as a major landmark case that will determine whether privacy tool creators will be held criminally liable, even if they never actually hold or control users’ money.
If a court upholds that deploying or maintaining code is tantamount to running a money transfer business, it could create major legal problems for developers of privacy tools and crypto mixers.
What is Tornado Cash?
Tornado Cash is an Ethereum-based privacy mixer launched in 2019 by developers Roman Storm, Roman Semenov, and Alexey Pertsev.
Zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-SNARKs) are used to completely separate senders and receivers on the blockchain. Users can deposit funds into a shared pool and then withdraw the same amount to a new wallet address, leaving no public record linking the two transactions.
Unlike custodial mixers, Tornado Cash was designed as a completely non-custodial automated protocol, with developers claiming they have no control over users’ funds. At its peak, Tornado Cash processed more than $1 billion in monthly transaction volume during the height of the market, attracting both privacy-seeking users and criminals looking to cover their tracks.
For the cryptocurrency market, the lawsuit against Tornado Cash, or more precisely Roman Storm, creates new legal risks for privacy, coin mixers, and DeFi-focused projects. This development not only impacts investor confidence, but could also change the way developers build these types of services in the future.
Related: US court overturns sanctions on virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. This article does not constitute financial advice or advice of any kind. Coin Edition is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the use of the content, products, or services mentioned. We encourage our readers to do their due diligence before taking any action related to our company.
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