After a three-week trial, a Manhattan jury found Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm guilty of money laundering and violating U.S. sanctions.
In a ruling on Wednesday in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, Storm was convicted of a felony for his role in Tornado Cash.
The jury found him guilty of conspiracy to operate an unregistered money transfer business, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison. No consensus was reached on the conspiracy charges related to money laundering or violations of North Korean sanctions.
The prosecutor's case focuses on proving that Storm had the ability to modify the code of Tornado Cash to prevent its illegal use by criminals, but chose not to do so, based on the testimonies of the FBI, IRS, and hackers. Storm's legal team introduced Ethereum core developer Preston Van Loon and NAXO co-founder Matthew Edman as expert witnesses.
The co-founder of Tornado Cash was charged in August 2023 with money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unregistered money transfer service, and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions. Storm pleaded not guilty and was released on bail since his arraignment.
Will Roman Storm be sentenced to prison?
Judge Katherine Failla reportedly mentioned other cryptocurrency-related cases during the proceedings, including former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain, and OneCoin co-founder Karl Greenwood. All three cases were tried in the Southern District of New York and resulted in prison sentences.
Storm's sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled, and throughout the trial, Storm maintained his innocence.
His X page has referred to himself as 'an American citizen targeted by the Biden administration and the Southern District of New York for writing open-source code' since at least March.
Supporters of the Tornado Cash co-founder donated over $3 million to his legal defense fund. Donors include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Paradigm founder Matt Huang, and the Ethereum Foundation.