- Judge Failla declined to order DOJ review of case records for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s defense team.
- Prosecutors now target mixer users for crimes, not the services themselves, per recent DOJ guidance.
A U.S. judge declined to order prosecutors to reexamine their records in the case against Roman Storm. Storm created the cryptocurrency tool Tornado Cash. He faces a criminal trial starting in July 2025.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla made this ruling on Friday. She rejected a request from Storm’s lawyers. The lawyers wanted the Department of Justice (DOJ) to search again for materials potentially useful to Storm’s defense.
The judge stated she would not require further review. She accepted government assurances that no more relevant material exists. She also said she did not believe the existing undisclosed material helped prove Storm innocent.
“I’m not going to require a further review based on the representations made that there’s no additional material of this type, and based on my views that I don’t believe the material was exculpatory,” the judge noted.
This decision matters for the trial. U.S. law mandates that prosecutors share any information favorable to the accused. Finding that prosecutors withheld such information could have changed how the defense approached the trial. Storm prepares for trial after the DOJ confirmed it will prosecute him this month. He is a founder of the Ethereum-based mixing service.
The DOJ recently shifted its approach toward cryptocurrency mixers. Weeks before confirming Storm’s prosecution, the department circulated a memo. This memo stated prosecutors would generally avoid charging the mixing services themselves. Instead, they will target individuals using these tools illegally. Prosecutors describe these targets as people exploiting mixers for crimes like moving stolen funds.
Federal authorities first charged Storm and another Tornado Cash founder, Roman Semenov, in August 2023. The charges include operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and conspiracy to launder money.
Authorities allege the service processed over $1 billion in illicit funds. Semenov remains at large. In a related case, Dutch authorities arrested Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev in Amsterdam in August 2022. A Dutch court released Pertsev from custody in February this year. His legal situation in the Netherlands continues separately.
