Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm Faces Jury Deliberation in $1B Money Laundering Trial

A Manhattan jury is set to deliberate the fate of Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, accused of facilitating over $1 billion in illicit transactions, including funds allegedly tied to North Korean hackers.

During closing arguments, prosecutors portrayed Storm and his team as knowingly aiding cybercriminals by refusing to implement safeguards, despite repeated victim complaints. They argued that while Tornado Cash’s smart contracts were immutable, Storm controlled the platform’s interface and could have introduced measures, such as user registries, to deter criminal activity. Prosecutors dismissed the mixer’s privacy purpose as a “cover story” for profiting from illicit use.

Storm’s defense countered that prosecutors cherry-picked evidence to paint him as complicit. Defense attorneys emphasized that Tornado Cash originated as a legitimate privacy project from a 2019 ETHBoston hackathon and was openly developed, attracting lawful investors. They argued implementing user tracking would have undermined the platform’s core purpose — privacy for Ethereum users — and that Storm never believed his work was illegal.

The jury will decide on three conspiracy charges: money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmission business, and violating international sanctions. If convicted on all counts, Storm faces up to 45 years in prison.

The case highlights the growing regulatory scrutiny over privacy tools in decentralized finance (DeFi) and raises questions about developer liability when open-source software is exploited by criminals. The verdict could set a major precedent for the crypto industry, shaping how privacy protocols are treated under U.S. law.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York instructed the jury before sending them into deliberations. The decision will be closely watched by crypto developers, regulators, and privacy advocates worldwide.