The South District of New York Court Grants Defense Request to Postpone Proceedings for Tornado Cash Co-Founder
The South District of New York Court has granted the defense request of Roman Storm, co-founder of the Tornado Cash platform, to postpone the proceedings for three months. This decision was made after Storm’s attorneys justified the need for a delay with complex and new legal issues, as well as the volume of case materials, which amount to millions of pages, many of them written in Russian and requiring translation. The defense statement emphasizes that additional time is needed for careful work with experts who will be summoned to court hearings.
Prosecution Objects to Delay in Tornado Cash Case
However, the prosecution believes that the defense significantly exaggerates the volume of documents and complicates the case without substantial reasons. «The public insists on expeditious proceedings, considering the high interest in this case from various stakeholders,» the prosecution’s objection states.
Background on Tornado Cash Sanctions and Arrests
Initially, the court hearing was scheduled for September 23 but was postponed to December 2. In August 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) included the Tornado Cash website in the sanctions list, accusing it of laundering over $7 billion in cryptocurrency. More than $455 million of this amount is linked to the activities of the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group.
In the same month, Alexey Pertsev, a developer of the Tornado Cash mixer, was arrested in the Netherlands. In May 2024, Pertsev was found guilty of laundering $1.2 billion through Tornado Cash and sentenced to 64 months in prison. In July, the court rejected his request for bail pending appeal.
Storm and another co-founder, Roman Semenov, are also accused of money laundering and violating US sanctions. Storm was released on bail but refused to admit guilt, while Semenov remains free but is subject to sanctions.
