Tornado Cash is a decentralized mixing service on Ethereum that anonymizes crypto transactions. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned the protocol in August 2022. According to authorities, criminals laundered more than $7 billion through it since 2019. A significant portion of that amount traces back to North Korea's Lazarus Group.
One of the three co-founders is Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm. Authorities arrested Storm in August 2023 and charged him on three counts: operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, money laundering conspiracy, and sanctions evasion. In August 2025, a jury found him guilty on the first count. As a consequence, he faces up to five years in prison. However, the jury could not reach a verdict on the remaining two charges. A conviction on those counts would have meant a combined maximum of roughly 40 years. Storm subsequently filed a 59-page motion for a judgment of acquittal. On April 9, Judge Katherine Polk Failla at the U.S. District Court in New York heard arguments from both sides. She now has several weeks to deliberate.
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Judge questions the prosecution
Failla's approach toward the prosecution stood out. She asked prosecutor Ban Arad directly whether merely creating Tornado Cash constituted a crime. Arad said no. When Failla pressed further on whether maintaining the protocol was criminal, Arad suggested it could be. Failla responded dryly: "You were better off before you started talking."
However, the judge warned both sides against reading too much into her questions. "Don't read too much into my questions. If I had already made up my mind, I wouldn't have called you all in." Defense attorney Brian Klein, a partner at law firm Cooley, based his acquittal motion on the Supreme Court ruling in Cox Communications v. Sony Music. His central argument: mere knowledge that software is being misused does not prove criminal intent.
In contrast, the DOJ rejected this approach in a filing dated April 7. According to prosecutors, the Cox ruling bore "no resemblance" to Storm's case. Storm did not simply write Tornado Cash. Instead, he actively deployed, maintained, and updated it while collecting millions in fees. Moreover, he did so despite knowing that sanctioned hackers were using the platform.
Contradictory signals from Washington
The case reveals a notable contradiction within the Trump administration. DOJ official Matthew Galeotti stated after the August verdict that writing code alone, without malicious intent, is not a crime. Furthermore, for truly decentralized protocols that merely automate peer-to-peer transactions, the DOJ would no longer authorize new prosecutions.
Nevertheless, Jay Clayton, serving as acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, continues to push the case against Storm. He requested a retrial between October 5 and 12, 2026, on the two remaining charges. As a result, the DOJ's general policy and the specific prosecution in New York directly contradict each other.
In total, 66 organizations have called on the Trump administration to drop the prosecution. Among them are Coinbase, Block, Paradigm, Multicoin Capital, the Solana Foundation, the Blockchain Association, and the Uniswap Foundation. In addition, the DeFi Education Fund, Coin Center, and the Blockchain Association filed amicus briefs.
Parallels to the Pertsev case
Storm is not the only Tornado Cash developer facing trial. Dutch authorities arrested co-developer Alexey Pertsev, a Russian citizen living in Amsterdam, back in August 2022. In May 2024, a Dutch court convicted him of money laundering involving $2.2 billion. Consequently, the court sentenced him to 64 months in prison. It also ordered the seizure of cryptocurrencies worth 1.9 million euros and a Porsche.
Judge Henrieke Slaar ruled at the time: "Tornado Cash is, by its nature and design, a tool intended for criminals." Meanwhile, Pertsev's attorney is currently reviewing an appeal based on the Fifth Circuit ruling on the OFAC sanctions. Authorities also indicted the third co-founder, Roman Semenov, in August 2023. His case remains ongoing.
OFAC sanctions lifted, criminal case remains
The regulatory landscape has shifted since Storm's arrest. OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash as the first piece of code in the agency's history. In November 2024, however, the Fifth Circuit ruled that OFAC had exceeded its authority. Immutable smart contracts do not qualify as sanctionable "property," the court held. As a result, OFAC officially lifted all Tornado Cash sanctions in March 2025. Despite this regulatory reversal, the criminal case against Storm continues.
Congress is also moving. In July 2025, the House of Representatives passed the CLARITY Act with a vote of 294 to 134. In February 2026, another bipartisan bill followed to protect code developers from criminal prosecution. The DeFi Education Fund warned clearly in its amicus brief: if Storm's conviction stands, the government would possess "unlimited power to prosecute any software developer whose code is later misused by third parties." At the end of the hearing, Judge Failla indicated she has dates for a retrial in late 2026 in view. Should she deny the acquittal motion, the retrial is set for October 2026.
