Catenaa, Thursday, August 14, 2025- A Manhattan jury on Wednesday found Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business but failed to reach verdicts on charges of conspiracy to launder money and sanctions violations tied to North Korea.
Storm, who pleaded not guilty, faced federal charges stemming from his role in operating the crypto-mixing platform Tornado Cash.
Prosecutors alleged the tool enabled more than $1 billion in illicit transactions, including laundering millions for the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
The partial verdict followed days of deliberation and a deadlock on more serious charges. Judge Katherine Polk Failla, who presided over the trial in the Southern District of New York, described it as a “hard-fought case,” according to Inner City Press.
Defense attorneys argued Storm had no intention of enabling criminals and acted in good faith, citing his alarm after learning of North Korean use of the platform. Prosecutors countered that Storm profited knowingly while hackers exploited the service.
The case has ignited controversy among crypto advocates. Groups like the DeFi Education Fund and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin defended Storm, arguing that developers of decentralized, noncustodial protocols should not be treated as financial intermediaries under the Bank Secrecy Act.
Storm’s conviction comes shortly after two Samourai Wallet founders pleaded guilty to similar charges, signaling a continued federal crackdown on crypto privacy tools.
