Judge Katherine Failla allowed a witness to indicate Tornado Cash may have been adjusted to deter criminals in the second week of the Roman Storm trial.
A federal judge in charge of the criminal trial of Roman Storm, the co-founder and developer of Tornado Cash, will let jurors hear testimony that he could have changed the platform “to keep criminals from using it.”
Judge Katherine Failla turned down a defense petition on Sunday that would have kept a government witness from testifying about changes Storm reportedly could have made to Tornado Cash.
The witness, Philip Werlau, who works for the fraud investigation and anti-money laundering compliance company AnChain.AI, will be able to say that Storm had the tools to stop Tornado Cash from using smart contract features to launder crime money, but chose not to.
Failla added, “This kind of testimony is allowed.” The defense contends that “there will be no proof that a ‘user registry smart contract’ has ever been used in the blockchain industry.” That may be true, but Mr. Werlau can still testify about how to add such a function if it is possible with technology. A software engineer like Mr. Storm would know about it.
Storm’s criminal trial began on Monday, the sixth day. He is accused of money laundering, conspiracy to run an unregistered money transmitter, and conspiracy to break US sanctions because of his work with Tornado Cash. Prosecutors in the US said they hoped to finish their case by Friday, when Storm’s lawyers would start to make their case.
So far, the US government has called witnesses to testify, including hackers who allegedly used the crypto mixing service to clean up dirty money and an FBI forensic accountant and special agent looking into the issue.
On Thursday, Joel DeCapua, a supervisory special agent in the FBI’s cybercrimes branch, said his team had uncovered 16 cases where more than $5 million moved through Tornado Cash.
What will the case signify for Storm’s future?
Alexey Pertsev, another co-founder and developer of Tornado Cash, was arrested, tried, and found guilty of money laundering in the Netherlands in connection with the mixing service. A judge gave him more than five years in prison in 2024.
The outcome of Storm’s case in the US could be different. Reports from the courtroom say that Failla was looking at the allegations in crypto-related instances, such as those against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX; Karl Greenwood, a co-founder of OneCoin; and Nathaniel Chastain, a former product manager at OpenSea. They were all given prison time as punishment.
Choosing a jury for Storm’s trial started on July 14. According to Storm, the trial should run between three and four weeks.
