US Prosecutors Push for October Retrial of Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm

• US prosecutors have asked a federal court to set an October retrial for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm after a jury deadlocked on two charges in his earlier trial.
• Storm was convicted of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business but jurors could not agree on money-laundering and sanctions conspiracy counts.
• Storm criticised the retrial push, arguing authorities are attempting to criminalise writing open-source code.

US prosecutors have moved to schedule a retrial for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm after two charges in his previous case ended without a verdict. In a letter filed in the Southern District of New York, officials asked the court to set a new trial for October.

Storm helped create Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing protocol designed to conceal the origins and destinations of blockchain transactions. The software operates through smart contracts on the Ethereum network rather than a centralised service provider.

During Storm’s first trial in August, a jury delivered a partial decision. He was found guilty of conspiracy to run an unlicensed money-transmitting business connected to the protocol. However, jurors could not reach unanimous decisions on allegations of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions laws. Prosecutors are now seeking a second trial to resolve those remaining charges.

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Deadlock on Key Allegations

In their filing, prosecutors argued that establishing a trial date in advance would help avoid unnecessary delays in the case. They proposed beginning the proceedings in early or mid-October and estimated the trial would last approximately three weeks. The request comes as Storm’s defence team continues to pursue a motion seeking to overturn his conviction on the unlicensed money-transmitting charge, with arguments scheduled for 9 April.

Storm remains free on bail as the case continues. In a post on X, he said the earlier jury heard four weeks of evidence before failing to agree on the two most serious accusations. “The government’s response? Try again to make writing code a crime,” he wrote.

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