The legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm is receiving an influx of donations as the software creator's defense team prepares for a possible retrial concerning money laundering and sanctions violations. The Ethereum Foundation announced on Thursday that it would match up to $500,000 in donations.
In Storm's trial, the jury failed to reach a consensus on two of the three charges but found him guilty of unlicensed money transmission. "Since the jury deadlock does not trigger double jeopardy, the defendant may be retried," Brandon Ferrick, chief legal counsel at Douro Labs, told Cointelegraph.
Executives in the crypto industry and digital rights activists stated that part of Wednesday's ruling sets a dangerous legal precedent for open-source software developers in the U.S. and impacts the development of privacy protection agreements and decentralized finance.
Several lawyers stated that the U.S. Department of Justice must decide whether to retry one and three counts in the case. Lawyer Aaron Brogan said, "Given the government's political positioning, I think the government may not retry the unresolved money laundering charge." Ferrick added that he expects Storm to appeal the guilty verdict and fight it to the end.
Storm had requested to raise $1.5 million for his legal defense fund in July. "Legal fees are piling up quickly, and we urgently need your help," he wrote in a statement on platform X.
