Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York has reportedly denied the request to dismiss charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm.
Storm’s legal troubles stem from allegations that Tornado Cash developers helped North Korean hacking group Lazarus launder illegal money through the crypto mixer.
In an effort to get the case dismissed, Storm’s lawyers argued that the developer had simply created an open-source protocol that provided privacy solutions for users of the Ethereum (ETH) network, which they say is not a crime.
But according to DeFi Education Fund chief legal officer Amanda Tuminelli, Failla is not convinced through the argument.
“At the hearing between the US and Storm (Tornado Cash) just now, the court rejected the arguments in Storm’s motion to dismiss as a matter of law and ruled heavily that what she said were matters of fact before the judge.”
According to Tuminelli, Judge Failla denied the motion to dismiss because the case is based on Storm’s “state of mind” and not on the fact that he wrote lines of code.
“Let me put this more simply: the government did not have to allege that Storm conspired with any user to promote or further any illegal purpose. They did not have to allege that he knew of the specific nature of or was a participant in the underlying criminal activity. Instead, the government must prove that Storm knew he was dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Ultimately, Storm’s arguments do not resonate in the context of a Due Process, but are evidence of his state of mind, which is a matter for the jury.”
Crypto venture fund Variant Chief Legal Officer Jake Chervinsky say that the ruling is “an attack on the freedom of software developers everywhere.”
“This will go down in history as a perversion of the law and a mockery of justice.”
Storm will stand trial in December.
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Featured image: Shutterstock/issaro prakalung