Tornado Cash co-founder seeks to drop charges after court ruling
Roman Storm, co-founder of the crypto mixing platform Tornado Cash (CRYPTO:TORN), has filed a motion to drop the criminal charges against him following a recent court ruling.
The ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court, found that the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had unlawfully sanctioned Tornado Cash’s smart contracts.
In a motion filed on December 18 in a Manhattan district court, Storm argued that the appeals court's opinion, which stated that OFAC had overstepped its authority, rendered all charges against him legally flawed.
He specifically pointed out that the charge of conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) was impacted by the ruling.
The court had concluded that Tornado Cash's smart contracts could not be classified as "property" of foreign nationals or entities, making them immune to sanctions.
The appeals court clarified that Tornado Cash's smart contracts were immutable and could not be altered or removed, emphasising that creators like Storm could not prevent the use of these contracts, even by sanctioned entities like North Korean hackers.
“Mr. Storm could no more choose to stop them than he could choose to stop the sun from rising,” the court stated.
Storm also sought to dismiss charges related to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy.
He contended that Tornado Cash was not a financial institution and argued that the protocol became immutable in May 2020, prior to the alleged conspiracy.
The charges against Storm and co-founder Roman Semenov were filed in August 2023, accusing them of laundering over $1 billion in crypto, including funds linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker collective.
Semenov remains at large, while Alexey Pertsev, the third co-founder, is in pre-trial detention in the Netherlands.
At the time of reporting, the price of Tornado Cash (TORN) was $10.67.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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