Golden Finance reports that in the money laundering criminal case of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, the defense attorney is considering applying for a retrial, citing that the testimony of the 'victim' may mislead the jury. A fraud victim, Hanfeng Ling, claimed that his $250,000 in stolen funds passed through Tornado Cash, but several on-chain analysts, including MyCrypto founder Taylor Monahan and investigator ZachXBT, pointed out that Ling's funds did not enter the privacy protocol but were misattributed. The defense argued that the U.S. government failed to verify the flow of funds before the trial, and an FBI witness also admitted they were not asked to investigate the relevant transaction paths. Although the prosecution claimed there were IRS witnesses who could testify that the funds indeed flowed to Tornado Cash 'within a few hops,' Judge Failla stated she could not independently determine whether the transaction tracing was accurate. The case reflects how technical errors in on-chain evidence gathering and misleading testimony can significantly impact the outcome of a trial.
