US authorities are pursuing a retrial for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm on serious money laundering and sanctions-violation charges. A jury previously found Storm guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the other two counts.
Federal prosecutors have requested the court set a new trial date, potentially in early October, aiming to secure convictions on the charges related to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions. The government anticipates the retrial will last approximately three weeks.
Storm, who is currently fundraising for his legal defense, has stated that the prosecution is attempting to criminalize the act of writing open-source code. He argues that the charges are aimed at a protocol he does not control and transactions he did not facilitate, noting that a jury could not previously agree on the criminality of these actions.