Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Could Face 40 Years as Government Seeks New Trial
Roman Storm, a Tornado Cash developer, may face a retrial with potential penalties of up to 40 years in prison as the government seeks to re-prosecute unresolved charges.Summary
Federal prosecutors are seeking a retrial for Roman Storm, the developer of Tornado Cash, on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions, where the initial jury deadlocked. Storm was previously convicted of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. A conviction on the remaining charges could result in a 40-year prison sentence. The case raises questions about the criminal liability of software developers and the boundaries of open-source code. The retrial request comes amidst a shifting federal policy towards digital assets, with the Justice Department clarifying it is not a regulator and the Treasury acknowledging legitimate uses for privacy tools. Storm maintains that developers should not be held responsible for how decentralized software is used after its release, framing the prosecution as an attempt to criminalize code itself.
(Source：Bitcoin Magazine)