With his criminal trial just weeks away, Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm is defending himself publicly, arguing that he’s being prosecuted not for criminal conduct but for writing open-source code.
In a new interview with Crypto in America, Storm, who is facing three felony counts, including conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions law says the U.S. government’s case threatens the future of DeFi and software freedom.
Federal prosecutors allege that Tornado Cash, a crypto privacy protocol founded by Storm and two others, was used to launder over $1 billion in illicit funds, including crypto linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking collective.
Storm: No Criminal contact, no control
Storm firmly denies any direct involvement in illicit activity. I did not have any contact whatsoever with any criminals, any criminal organizations, any illicit actors, or any North Koreans, he said. According to him, Tornado Cash was built solely to preserve privacy, and once launched, functioned autonomously.
We didn’t have control over what happened. If someone did something illicit, we couldn’t stop it, he added.
Storm was arrested in August 2023. His fellow co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was convicted in the Netherlands last year and sentenced to 64 months in prison for money laundering. A third co-founder, Roman Semenov, has also been charged but remains at large.
Since his arrest, Storm says he’s endured strict bail conditions, including having no bank accounts and no access to crypto wallets. I’m being punished before being proven guilty, he said.
Developer rights on trial
Storm’s trial is scheduled to begin July 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He did not disclose whether he will take the stand but confirmed that his legal defense will center on the principle that writing code is a form of free speech.
Our argument is simple: creating open-source tools isn’t a crime even if someone misuses them, Storm said.
The outcome could carry broad implications. If I lose my case, DeFi dies with me, he warned, suggesting that a conviction could criminalize software developers for building decentralized tools.
Meanwhile, support for Storm has grown. Figures like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin have publicly backed him, with several donating to his legal defense fund.