US DOJ could still pursue money laundering, sanctions charges against Roman Storm

The US government can still retry Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm on counts of money laundering and violating sanctions due to a hung jury, according to attorneys.

“The Department of Justice (DOJ) will decide in the coming days if it wants to retry those charges in a new trial,” Jake Chervinsky, chief legal officer at venture capital firm Variant Fund, wrote on X.

Storm was convicted on one felony count for his involvement with Tornado Cash on Wednesday. The jury found him guilty of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

However, jury members did not reach a unanimous verdict on the charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions.

Source: Jake ChervinskyAttorney Aaron Brogan told Cointelegraph that Storm's verdict still carries broader legal implication for decentralized protocols.

“The problem with this broad application of federal money transmitter law is that, frankly, many in DeFi worry they could apply as strongly to them as to Tornado Cash. And while the government probably won’t bring charges against all of DeFi, the broad exposure gives them a powerful stick in any negotiations.”

The case's potential for lasting implications has drawn close attention from the crypto industry and privacy advocates. Attorneys say the precedent-setting trial is critical for digital privacy and could have a significant impact on open-source software developers in the United States.

Related: SEC’s Peirce defends transaction privacy as Tornado Cash verdict looms

Attorneys react to the partial verdict

The US can still bring Roman Storm back to court on the unresolved charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions. The decision would depend on several factors, including the likelihood of securing a conviction in a second trial.

“If the Trump administration wants the USA to be the crypto capital of the world, then the DOJ must not be allowed to retry the two deadlocked charges,” Chervinsky said.

Chervinsky described the partial verdict as “a sad day for DeFi,” warning that section 1960 under the US Code, which prosecutors used to charge Storm with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, represents an existential threat to decentralized finance applications.

“All in all, this leads to a pretty depressing conclusion,” attorney Zack Shapiro wrote on X, but said that it was good the “draconian” prison sentences for the money laundering charges were off the table for now.

Source: Zack ShapiroI think it's reasonable to conclude that the government might not retry the mistried counts of money laundering given the political posturing

A US court overturned the Tornado Cash sanctions in January 2025, handing decentralized crypto and privacy-preserving protocols a major legal victory.

The sanctions were imposed by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2022, accusing the crypto mixing service of money laundering.

DOJ officials claimed the Tornado Cash protocol helped launder over $7 billion in crypto between 2019 and 2022 and was instrumental to North Korean state-sanctioned hackers laundering funds stolen through hacking.

Magazine: Tornado Cash 2.0: The race to build safe and legal coin mixers

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