Tornado Cash Developer Cooperates With Government, Denies Criminal Activity: Report

Key Points:

• Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm has been indicted for assisting in the development of software with dangerous implications for all software developers.
• Storm’s lawyer, Brian Klein, stated that Storm denies any criminal acts and has been cooperating with the government’s investigation since last year.

Brian Klein, lawyer for Roman Storm, the Tornado cash developer arrested by the US, said that Storm has cooperated with the government investigation since last year and has denied any criminal acts.

The recent indictment of Roman Storm, a developer for Tornado Cash, has caused controversy in the cryptocurrency community. Storm has been cooperating with the government’s investigation since last year and denies any criminal conduct. However, he has been charged with assisting in developing software that has dangerous implications for all software developers.

Tornado Cash is a cryptocurrency mixing service that allegedly received money from a North Korean cybercrime organization, the Lazarus Group. The US Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022. It charged two founders, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, with conspiring to launder money, violating US sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The men are accused of knowing that Tornado Cash was “a haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.”

The US government seeks to choke off the flow of illegal money, while many crypto advocates want to see increased privacy in financial transactions. The case has sparked a conflict between these two groups, with some concerned that the government’s actions could criminalize the mere publication of software.

Coin Center, a non-profit organization focusing on cryptocurrency policy issues, echoed concerns from Storm’s lawyer, stating that they are “certainly concerned that this action could be criminalizing the mere publication of software.”

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