Roman Storm's legal team has agreed with U.S. prosecutors to extend procedural deadlines, which may affect the retrial of the Tornado Cash co-founder for money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.
On Monday in the Southern District of New York, Judge Katherine Fayla approved an agreement reached between Storm's lawyers and the U.S. government, which will delay the start of any potential retrial.
Although the prosecutors did not explicitly state whether they plan to retry the two felony charges involved, related arrangements may be postponed until after 2025.
Fayla stated: “The court believes that excluding time from now until December 18, 2025, serves the interests of justice, and allowing the defense time to consider and prepare post-trial motions will outweigh the interests of a swift retrial for the public and the defendant.”
On August 6, the jury found Storm guilty of one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money laundering business related to Tornado Cash, but did not reach a consensus on the other two charges.
For the established charges, sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled.
Tornado Cash developers remain under close scrutiny.
In August 2023, Storm was charged in the U.S. with money laundering, unlicensed money transmission, and conspiracy to violate sanctions. He has pleaded not guilty and has been released on bail since his arraignment.
The other two co-founders of Tornado Cash, Alexey Pertsey and Roman Semenov, also face similar legal dilemmas.
Semenov is charged alongside Storm in New York and remains at large. Pertsey was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands in 2024 and sentenced to over five years in prison, and has appealed.