US prosecutors asked a federal judge to set an October date for the retrial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm on two pending criminal charges after a jury failed to reach unanimous verdicts during the original hearing, according to a letter filed Monday in the Southern District of New York.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asked for a date now to “avoid further unnecessary delays,” although Storm, who is currently free on bail, has a pending motion for a judgment of acquittal. Oral arguments are scheduled for April 9.
Storm is the co-founder of Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer designed to hide the origin and destination of blockchain transactions. In August, a jury convicted Storm of one charge related to operating an unlicensed money transmission business and failed to agree on verdicts on two other charges, leaving alleged violations of the Money Laundering Sanctions Act unresolved. He is currently free on bail pending further court proceedings.
Storm criticized the planned retrial in an X post Tuesday, saying the jury’s split decision reflected uncertainty about the government’s case.
“A jury of 12 Americans heard four weeks of evidence and deadlocked: no verdict on money laundering and no verdict on sanctions violations,” Storm wrote. “The government’s response? Try making writing code a crime again.”
Storm also referred to a US Treasury Department report that acknowledges that hybrid services like Tornado Cash can serve legitimate purposes on public blockchains. The report came after years of opposition to crypto mixers.
Defense attorneys told prosecutors it would be premature to set a trial date until the April motion is resolved.
