The U.S. federal prosecutor firmly rejected the efforts of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm to use the recent Supreme Court ruling to dismiss the criminal charges, stating that the ruling is completely unrelated to this case.
In a letter filed on Tuesday, the Department of Justice countered Storm's legal team, pointing out the Supreme Court ruling in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment that may benefit Storm
DOJ indicated that the Cox ruling is not relevant to Storm's criminal case
Storm's attorney argued that the ruling in the Cox case, in which the court decided that internet service providers should not be held liable for user misconduct in copyright disputes, could impact Storm's situation
However, the prosecution strongly disagrees, emphasizing that the Cox case pertains to civil liability for assistance under copyright law, which is structurally different from the criminal charges Storm faces, including money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmission business, and conspiracy to evade sanctions
The government has emphasized the clear distinction between the behavior of Cox and the actions of Storm, while Cox encouraged the implementation of measures to prevent violations with a system that eliminates detected violations by up to 98%, the prosecutor accused Storm of intentionally using completely ineffective compliance measures
The prosecutor accused Storm of being aware of the money laundering from the Ronin hack worth 449 million USD
According to DOJ documents, Storm was aware of the Ronin hack on the day it was announced and anticipated that Tornado Cash would be used to launder this amount before any actual laundering occurred
The government pointed out that the stolen money amounting to 449 million USD was transferred through Tornado Cash in a total of 1,751 transactions, all of which Storm was aware of
The prosecutor also further claimed that at least 37% of all funds flowing through this platform were related to major criminal events that Storm was well aware of. During the Ronin hack, this figure surged over 50% from a single incident
In summary, the defendant's reaction to the use of the company for criminal purposes is merely a best-case scenario image or a truly egregious distortion of facts, which is entirely different from Cox's robust and effective mechanism to address detected violations at 98%. The prosecutor wrote
A motion has been proposed to initiate a retrial in October 2026
This document was filed while prosecutors pushed for a retrial on two unresolved charges, proposing to start in October 2026, after Storm had already been convicted of operating a money transmission business last August
However, the jury was not unanimous regarding the money laundering and sanctions evasion charges
The case of Storm remains a divisive issue within the crypto community, with Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, publicly expressing support for Storm and stating that he is a commendable individual for developing privacy tools that remain functional even years after he ceased development
Meanwhile, the founder of the similar mixing service Samourai Wallet has already pleaded guilty to money laundering charges
Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder, was sentenced to five years in prison, while William Lonergan Hill received a four-year prison sentence
The outcome of Storm's retrial could become a significant precedent for interpreting criminal liability for developers of decentralized privacy protocol systems in the future