Tornado Cash Founder, Roman Storm, Faces Trial for Money Laundering Charges

The trial of Roman Storm, the founder of Tornado Cash (TORN), accused of aiding money laundering worth billions of dollars including funds associated with North Korean hackers, begins on the 14th (local time).

Eleanor Terrett, host of Crypto in America, reported via X (formerly Twitter) that: "As Crypto Week is underway in Washington, the criminal trial of Roman Storm is taking place at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York."

Roman Storm, founder of Tornado Cash, was indicted by the Department of Justice in 2023 on charges of assisting criminals—including the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacker organization—in laundering money. Storm faces up to 20 years in prison for violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and up to 5 years for conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, making the maximum possible sentence up to 40 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.

Prior to the start of the trial, Roman Storm’s legal team challenged the evidence submitted by the prosecution. The lawyers argued that the Telegram messages sent from alleged co-conspirator Alexey Pertsev’s mobile phone that the prosecution intends to introduce in court "lack identifying information of the author of the messages," and claimed that "the mere fact that important information is missing undermines the credibility of the messages."