The US authorities can nonetheless retry Twister Money developer Roman Storm on counts of cash laundering and violating sanctions because of a hung jury, in accordance with attorneys.
“The Division of Justice (DOJ) will determine within the coming days if it needs to retry these expenses in a brand new trial,” Jake Chervinsky, chief authorized officer at enterprise capital agency Variant Fund, wrote on X.
Storm was convicted on one felony count for his involvement with Twister Money on Wednesday. The jury discovered him responsible of conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise.
Nevertheless, jury members did not reach a unanimous verdict on the fees of conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions.
Legal professional Aaron Brogan advised Cointelegraph that Storm’s verdict nonetheless carries broader authorized implication for decentralized protocols.
“The issue with this broad software of federal cash transmitter legislation is that, frankly, many in DeFi fear they might apply as strongly to them as to Twister Money. And whereas the federal government in all probability received’t convey expenses towards all of DeFi, the broad publicity offers them a robust stick in any negotiations.”
The case’s potential for lasting implications has drawn shut consideration from the crypto trade and privateness advocates. Attorneys say the precedent-setting trial is important for digital privateness and will have a major influence on open-source software program builders in america.
Associated: SEC’s Peirce defends transaction privacy as Tornado Cash verdict looms
Attorneys react to the partial verdict
The US can nonetheless convey Roman Storm again to court docket on the unresolved expenses of conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions. The choice would rely on a number of components, together with the probability of securing a conviction in a second trial.
“If the Trump administration needs the USA to be the crypto capital of the world, then the DOJ should not be allowed to retry the 2 deadlocked expenses,” Chervinsky mentioned.
Chervinsky described the partial verdict as “a tragic day for DeFi,” warning that part 1960 underneath the US Code, which prosecutors used to cost Storm with working an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, represents an existential risk to decentralized finance functions.
“All in all, this results in a fairly miserable conclusion,” lawyer Zack Shapiro wrote on X, however mentioned that it was good the “draconian” jail sentences for the cash laundering expenses had been off the desk for now.
I believe it is cheap to conclude that the federal government won’t retry the mistried counts of cash laundering given the political posturing
A US court docket overturned the Tornado Cash sanctions in January 2025, handing decentralized crypto and privacy-preserving protocols a significant authorized victory.
The sanctions had been imposed by the US Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) in 2022, accusing the crypto mixing service of cash laundering.
DOJ officers claimed the Twister Money protocol helped launder over $7 billion in crypto between 2019 and 2022 and was instrumental to North Korean state-sanctioned hackers laundering funds stolen by hacking.
Journal: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers
