Code Crimes: Tornado Cash’s Legal Tornado

by

Finance

What to know:

  • Behold, the federal prosecutors, with the tenacity of a hound on a scent, implore the judge to set October as the date for a retrial of Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, whose jury, like a fickle lover, refused to settle on a verdict for money-laundering and sanctions charges.
  • Storm, though convicted in August for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, remains free on bail, a curious state of affairs, as he now petitions for a judgment of acquittal, with arguments set for April 9, a date as distant as the moon.
  • Storm and his band of defenders claim the retrial is premature, arguing the jury’s split verdict betrays doubt in the government’s crusade to criminalize code for crypto-mixing services, which, alas, may have lawful uses-though the government, ever the paranoiac, sees villains in every line of script.

In the realm of the United States, prosecutors, ever eager to prolong the drama, beseeched a federal judge to fix an October date for Storm’s retrial, citing the need to “avoid further unnecessary delays,” even as our hero, free on bail, awaits a verdict on his motion for acquittal, a matter as pressing as a cat’s nap.

In a letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, Jay Clayton, a former SEC chief, implored the court with the fervor of a man chasing a mirage, demanding the retrial date to “avoid further unnecessary delays,” despite Storm’s pending motion, which, if granted, would render the retrial as redundant as a second helping of kasha.

Storm, a co-founder of Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer as enigmatic as a Russian matryoshka doll, was convicted in August for operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Yet, the jury, like a troupe of fickle actors, failed to agree on two other charges, leaving money-laundering sanctions in a state of legal limbo. Now, Storm, free on bail, awaits the next act of this melodrama.

Storm, ever the orator, took to X (formerly Twitter) to decry the planned retrial, declaring that the jury’s deadlock reflected the government’s flimsy case. “A jury of 12 Americans heard four weeks of evidence and deadlocked: no verdict on money laundering, and no verdict on sanctions violations,” he wrote. “The government’s response? Try again to make writing code a crime-how original!”

He also referenced a U.S. Treasury report, which, like a reluctant lover, acknowledged that mixing services like Tornado Cash can serve lawful purposes on public blockchains. A revelation so profound, it might make a stone weep.

Defense lawyers, ever the cautious souls, warned that setting a trial date before April 9 would be as prudent as inviting a wolf to a sheep’s feast.

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2026-03-10 15:17