Roman Storm seeks acquittal in Tornado Cash trial
The defense argues DOJ is criminalizing open-source code and violating First Amendment protections in landmark crypto case
Leonard Zhukovsky/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks
Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency tumbling protocol Tornado Cash, filed a motion for judgment of acquittal in the Southern District of New York on Sept 30.
A federal jury convicted Storm earlier this year of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, while jurors deadlocked on money laundering charges and acquitted him on sanctions violations. His legal team now seeks to overturn the conviction entirely, with oral argument scheduled for Dec 18.
In a 103-page memorandum, reviewed by Blockworks, Storm’s defense counsel argued that Tornado Cash is permissionless, immutable software that Storm did not control once deployed. They said the Department of Justice improperly relied on a negligence theory, claiming Storm failed to stop criminals from using the tool, despite lacking both legal duty and technical ability.
The filing contends that labeling software publication as a financial “business” violates constitutional free speech protections, invoking both the First Amendment and the Berman Amendment, which shields the distribution of informational materials from sanctions enforcement.
Storm’s lawyers also challenged the venue, saying alleged New York connections — such as Infura payments, email communications, and Telegram messages — were legally insufficient.
On the substantive charges, they argued that Tornado Cash did not transmit funds, Storm did not enter into a money laundering agreement, and open-source code cannot be equated to providing a sanctions-barred service.
The government has until Oct 31 to file its response to Storm’s motion, per the court documents. Both parties also agreed to pause any potential retrial motions — which the government could pursue on the hung money laundering count — until the acquittal motion is resolved.
This is a developing story.
This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor Jeffrey Albus before publication.
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