Roman Storm, a developer and co-founder of Tornado Cash, is set to face a criminal trial over his creation of the crypto-mixing platform after a New York judge denied his motion to dismiss.
In a Sept. 26 telephone conference, New York district court judge Katherine Polk Failla denied Storm’s motion to dismiss three federal charges brought by the US Department of Justice, adding that government prosecutors had lodged plausible allegations against him.
Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov were charged last August with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Judge Failla said she didn’t believe Tornado Cash was different from other financial services or money-transmitting firms and that she couldn’t accept that Storm was being charged for writing code.
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Storm’s trial is slated for Dec. 2. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 45 years in prison if found guilty on all three charges.
Semonov, a Russian national, is still at large.
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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.