Tornado Cash Co-Founder, Roman Storm Found Guilty on 1 of 3 Charges

On Wednesday, the US district court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) was found guilty of one felony charge in conjunction with his role at Tornado Cash. 

The jury found Roman Storm guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, which could carry a sentence of up to five years. They could not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering or conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions.

After four days, jurors reported a deadlock on some charges. Consequently, the judge issued a special instruction. Therefore, jurors were urged to reach a unanimous verdict.

The prosecutors focused on presenting witnesses from the FBI and IRS. These witnesses testified that Roman had the ability to change the code so that criminals couldn’t make illicit use of the software. 

The Tornado Cash co-founder was indicted in August 2023 for money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter and conspiracy to violate US sanctions. Storm pleaded not guilty and had been free on bail since his arraignment.

Will Roman Storm Serve 5 Years In Prison?

According to Judge Katherine Failla, Sam Bankman Fried, former CEO of the defunct exchange FTX, Opensea product manager Nathaniel Chastain and OneCoin co-founder Karl Greenwood are serving time. She is being mindful towards crypto cases. 

Roman Storm’s sentencing hearing is yet to be scheduled and throughout his trial he has pleaded not guilty

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Paradigm founder Matt Huang, and the Ethereum Foundation have donated money as aid for Storm’s legal battle. He has raised $13 million till date.