A federal judge overseeing Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Roman Storm’s criminal trial will allow jurors to hear testimony claiming he could have modified the platform “to deter criminals from using it.”
In a Sunday order, Judge Katherine Failla denied a defense motion requesting to preclude testimony from a government witness over modifications Storm allegedly could have made to Tornado Cash.
The witness, Philip Werlau, an investigator at the fraud investigation and Anti-Money Laundering compliance company AnChain.AI, will be allowed to offer testimony that Storm allegedly had the means to stop Tornado Cash from laundering the proceeds of crimes using smart contract features, but chose not to.
“Such testimony is permissible,” said Failla. “The defense says that ‘there will be no evidence that a “user registry smart contract” has ever actually been used in the blockchain industry.’ That may be so, but Mr. Werlau can still testify about implementing such a feature so long as it is technologically feasible and a software developer like Mr. Storm would likely have known about it.”
Monday marked the sixth day of Storm’s criminal trial, where he stands accused of money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter and conspiracy to violate US sanctions based on his role with Tornado Cash. US prosecutors said they expected to wrap up their case by Friday, when Storm’s attorneys will begin to present their defense.
Related: What you need to know about Roman Storm’s Tornado Cash trial
To date, the US government has offered testimony from witnesses ranging from hackers who allegedly used the crypto mixing service to launder illicit funds to an FBI forensic accountant and special agent investigating the case. Joel DeCapua, a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s cybercrimes unit, reportedly testified on Thursday that his team had found 16 incidents each involving more than $5 million moving through Tornado Cash.
What will the case mean for Storm’s future?
Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash co-founder and developer, was arrested, tried and found guilty of money laundering related to the mixing service in the Netherlands. In 2024, a judge sentenced him to more than five years in prison.
Storm’s US case could have a different outcome. According to reporting from the courtroom, Failla said she was looking at the charges in crypto-related cases, including that of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, OneCoin co-founder Karl Greenwood and former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain. All three were sentenced to serve time in prison.
Jury selection for Storm’s trial began on July 14. The trial is expected to last three to four weeks, according to Storm.
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