Prosecutors in the case against Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm try to avoid the possibility of a judge in New York forces them to provide additional evidence that could help Storm’s case.
In a Wednesday letter to the court, prosecutors pushed back against Storm’s lawyers’ claims that they had not fulfilled their so-called Brady obligations-a constitutional claim for prosecutors to turn any potentially useful evidence to the defense before the trial.
In the heart of the debate is a recent production of evidence in another case in the southern district of New York (SDNY): The legal persecution of the Samorai-Tevebog co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. Both cases involve a crypto -mixture service that prosecutors claim to be deliberately used to launder crime,
However, in the Samorai -Tevebogs case, prosecutors recently admitted to having a conversation with two financial crime networks (fincen) officials in 2023 – before pressing charges – where government employees said they did not think the mixing service would qualify as a money transmitting business under their guidelines and did not need a license to operate. Attorneys for Rodriguez and Hill accused prosecutors of suppressing critical evidence and violating their right to proper process. Last week, the judge denied that the case was monitoring the case, their proposal for consultation on the case, and told them instead to include their concerns in their prior attempt due to the end of the month.
Although the cases are separate, lawyers for novel Storm expressed concern that the prosecutor’s lack of information of them about their communication with the Fincen about Samorai Wallet’s status as a money transferring business also potentially constituted a Brady violation in Storm’s case.
In their Wednesday’s response, prosecutors said the Finc’s conversation was not evidence. Prosecutors also claimed that their discussion with the finc was irrelevant to Storm’s case because it wasn’t specifically about Tornado cash.
“Tornado Cash was simply not part of the conversation,” prosecutors wrote. “While Samorai Wallet and Tornado Cash Service may share some superficial similarities, they operated completely differently.”
Prosecutors said they did not have similar conversations with the finch about Tornado cash and claimed that there were not “not such interactions comparable to those described in the Rodriguez revelations.”
“As the government has repeatedly explained to the defense in this case, the government has neither sought nor obtained an opinion from any employee of the Finc – or another government agency – as to whether Tornado Cash Service is subject to registration obligations,” prosecutors wrote. “Such an opinion – especially an informal statement offered by employees who explicitly disclaim themselves to speak for the agency – would not be legally presumably and would not constitute Brady material.”
The case against Storm is expected to begin on July 14 in New York.
