Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Charges Against Tornado Cash Co-Founder Roman Storm, Case Set for Trial in December

Judge Katherine Polk Failla from the Southern District of New York has denied the motion to dismiss charges against Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash.

Storm is facing serious allegations. He is accused of helping the North Korean hacking group Lazarus launder illegal funds through a crypto mixer.

In an effort to get the case thrown out, Storm's lawyers argued that he simply created an open-source protocol. They claimed it provides privacy solutions for Ethereum (ETH) users and isn’t a crime.

However, Amanda Tuminelli, the chief legal officer at the DeFi Education Fund, said Judge Failla was not convinced by this argument.

During the recent hearing in the case of US v. Storm, Tuminelli explained that the court rejected the motion to dismiss. She noted that the judge pushed the factual issues to trial.

Tuminelli pointed out that the case focuses on Storm’s “state of mind” rather than just the code he wrote. She clarified, “The government didn’t need to prove that Storm conspired with anyone to promote illegal activities. They didn’t need to show he was aware of the specific crimes involved.”

What the government needs to prove is that Storm knew he was dealing with proceeds from a crime.

In essence, Storm’s arguments relate more to his state of mind, which is a matter for the jury to decide.

Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at the crypto venture fund Variant, expressed strong feelings about the ruling. He called it “an assault on the freedom of software developers everywhere.”

He added, “This will be remembered as a perversion of law and a travesty of justice.”

Storm is scheduled to stand trial in December.