Roman Storm, the embattled co-founder of Tornado Cash, faced the Manhattan federal jury on August 6, 2025, and despite all that has been said about him, the jury could not decide unanimously on whether he is a money launderer.
According to prosecutors, the tool he created was used extensively by bad actors to “clean” over $1 billion in stolen cryptocurrency, including funds linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
Manhattan federal jury delivers partial verdict
According to reports, Storm on Wednesday faced a federal jury in Manhattan that was later disbanded because it was unable to agree on whether the 36-year-old co-developer of Tornado Cash qualifies as a money launderer.
The trial had been going on for about three-and-a-half weeks, but it ended with a partial mistrial after the jury admitted they could not reach a unanimous verdict on the more serious charges leveled against him: money laundering and the violation of international sanctions, each carrying potential sentences of 20 years in prison.
He was only found guilty of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, a charge that could cost him a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison.
It is far less than he could still serve, but the developer still appeared dejected as they read out the guilty verdict for that one count, according to reports. Storm was not detained post-verdict, even though prosecutors considered him a flight risk due to his links to his home country, Russia, and his access to millions in Ethereum.
The case has once again sparked a debate on the previously contested topic of whether creators and developers are liable for how their products are used, a precedent-setting case under U.S. law.
Roman Storm’s defense
In its defense, Storm’s legal representatives argued that Tornado Cash was a privacy tool that was not designed for illegal use, and that developers shouldn’t have to suffer for users’ actions.
The defense began earnestly on Monday but was forced to proceed without the presentation of what the court tagged “self-serving” evidence that included private messages in which Storm lamented how some were using the protocol for shady purposes.
If admitted, the evidence would have proven Storm had no intention for Tornado Cash to be used as a money laundering tool for cybercriminals, defense attorneys wrote in a letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla on Sunday.
However, Failla remained unconvinced, and on Monday, she said most of the messages do not account for Storm’s state of mind when he created and contributed to the Tornado Cash protocol.
To make the money laundering charge stick, prosecutors will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he created and ran Tornado Cash solely for the purpose of laundering funds for cybercriminals.
Storm is adamant that he built Tornado Cash for those particular about privacy on the blockchain and that he had no control over who used the protocol or what it was used for. But prosecutors counter with so-called evidence they say proves he marketed the platform as a money laundering solution rather than anything else.
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