- The US Department of Justice has clarified its stance on the charges against the co-founders of Tornado Cash, a privacy-focused cryptocurrency mixer.
- According to the authorities, the developers of Tornado Cash were aware of money laundering activities and profited from the mixer.
- The Ministry of Justice considers Tornado Cash to be a “commercial enterprise” aimed at financial gain.
Recently, the US Department of Justice provided more details regarding the charges against the co-founders of Tornado Cash, a popular cryptocurrency mixer. The authorities argue that the developers’ involvement went beyond simply writing code for the project.
The government representatives have filed an objection to the defense motion to protect co-founder Roman Storm. The defense lawyers argue that Tornado Cash did not charge for its services, and Roman Storm was solely responsible for coding.
However, the Department of Justice disagrees with the defense’s arguments. They claim that Roman Storm and his partner Roman Semyonov profited from the operation of Tornado Cash and were aware of money laundering activities facilitated by the platform. The Ministry of Justice further points out that the project team had control over the official website, through which most users accessed the mixer, suggesting that they could have arranged the system differently if they had wanted to.
The authorities assert that Tornado Cash is a “commercial enterprise” created for monetary gain. They emphasize that Roman Storm and his colleagues received financial benefits from providing their services.
“The indictment clearly alleges that the Tornado Cash service was a commercial enterprise created for the purpose of financial gain, and that the defendant himself profited from its operation,” stated the Justice Department.
It is worth mentioning that the US authorities banned the use of Tornado Cash in August 2022. Shortly after, the founder of the project, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in Amsterdam on charges of concealing illicit financial transactions and engaging in money laundering.
A year later, the Ministry of Justice filed lawsuits against Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, accusing them of involvement in money laundering exceeding $1 billion and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Previously, it was reported that the Tornado Cash developers had raised over $430,000 to cover their legal expenses.