Developer of Tornado Cash Found Guilty of Laundering $1.2 Billion
Today in the Netherlands, a guilty verdict was handed down to Alexei Pertsev, the developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash. The court found him guilty of laundering $1.2 billion through his project.
Charges and Arrest
According to the charges, Pertsev was involved in dozens of illegal transactions, including one related to the hacking of the Ronin blockchain bridge in 2022. As a result of the hackers’ attack, $600 million in cryptocurrencies was stolen, and a portion of the funds, specifically 175 ETH, passed through Tornado Cash. Pertsev was arrested in August 2022 after the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash for facilitating cryptocurrency laundering, including funds stolen by North Korean hackers.
Sentence and Appeal
The court sentenced Pertsev to five years in prison. His lawyers are already planning to appeal this decision. They have two weeks to challenge the verdict. Pertsev’s defenders claim that he was not involved in any illegal activities and that his only fault lies in developing the mixer’s code. They have campaigned in his support, stating that he is not responsible for the actions of users on his platform.
