Roman Storm has been denied his two requests for court hearings by a US federal judge. He ruled that the US government will proceed with its lawsuit against Storm.
Storm’s request to dismiss the three charges against Storm and to require discovery were denied by Judge Katherine Polk Failla.
“At this stage in the case, this court cannot simply accept Mr. Storm’s narrative that he is being prosecuted merely for writing code,” Failla told a phone conference on Thursday. “For starters, that’s an overstatement of what’s actually charged in the indictment.”
Storm, along with fellow Tornado Cash founder Roman Semenov, were both indicted on August 20, 2023. Both were accused of three federal charges: conspiracy for money laundering, conspiracy against sanctions and conspiracy in order to run an illegal money-transfer business.
“While publicly claiming to offer a technically sophisticated privacy service, Storm and Semenov in fact knew that they were helping hackers and fraudsters conceal the fruits of their crimes,” US Attorney Damian Williams made a public statement about the case at that time.
Storm, in March of 2024, filed a motion for dismissal, arguing the simple building of a protocol does not constitute money laundering. Money laundering requires that there be a “financial transaction involving a financial institution.” The protocol is not a viable option because users retain control over their assets and there are no charges. “financial institution,” Storm’s Team said.
The prosecution, when opposing the motion, claimed that Tornado Cash is a money transmission business and, thus, a bank.
Failla said on Thursday that Storm’s charges against the US Government met all the criteria for “sufficiency.”
“As I understand the charges in the indictment, the Tornado Cash enterprise was not an altruistic venture,” Failla added. “Among other things, the indictment alleges that Mr. Storm and other Tornado Cash founders solicited approximately $900,000 in financing from a venture capital fund in exchange for an expectation that the funds would receive a share of future profits from the Tornado Cash service.”
Storm in March tried to get the government to reveal all communication between agencies regarding Storm, Semenov and Tornado Cash. Tornado Cash was developed by Alexey Pertsev.
Failla denied the motion for compulsion because the defense had not sufficiently proven that the information was relevant. “material to the defense’s preparation.”
The ruling on Thursday comes after Pertsev was found guilty by a Dutch Court of laundering $1.2 Billion in crypto via Tornado Cash.
Failla’s ruling that Storm and Semenov’s case would proceed to discovery. On Dec. 2, 2020, a jury trial should begin.
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