Defense Team of Tornado Cash Co-Founder to Seek Dismissal of Legal Proceedings

The attorneys representing Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm plan to file a motion to dismiss the ongoing trial. This information was reported by Inner City Press.

The basis for this motion stems from witness testimonies that the defense believes are not directly relevant to the charges against their client. Storm’s lawyers have contested the statements made by witness Hanfen Li, who claimed she lost approximately $250,000 to fraudsters in 2021. The scammers convinced her to transfer bitcoins to a fake trading platform, promising high returns.

To recover her funds, Li turned to the Payback service, whose representatives stated that a portion of the stolen money passed through Tornado Cash. Storm’s attorney pointed out the lack of evidence for this claim.

During the cross-examination, the prosecution’s expert from the FBI, Joseph DeCapua, revealed that he had not actually checked the transactions related to the witness. Prosecutors promised to call in IRS analyst Stefan George to validate the connection between Li’s money and Tornado Cash.

Federal Judge Katherine Polk Failla criticized the conduct of the trial process at a hearing for the Tornado Cash case, stating:

«I participate in many criminal cases, but I have never seen such confusion in communication between the parties,» as quoted by Inner City Press.

If Storm’s defense motion is accepted, the trial could come to an end. Otherwise, the case will be retried with a different judge and jury due to procedural errors.

Blockchain detectives have decided to conduct their own investigation. The chief security researcher at MetaMask, Taylor Monahan, noted that after analyzing Li’s transactions, she found no connection to the crypto mixer.

The first witness in Roman’s trial immediately caught my attention because the victim was classic Pig Butchering case. The only issue is….uh…..those scammers don’t use Tornado Cash? And they never have? So, like, wtf?

«The authorities did not mark the addresses to which she sent $250,000 as related to theft or illegal operations. They did not freeze the funds, let alone recover them. […] I don’t understand what the Payback team was tracking. There’s no Tornado Cash,» she wrote.

On-chain detective ZachXBT joined Monahan’s conclusions and criticized the work of Payback.

The trial for Storm, one of the creators of Tornado Cash, began on July 14. At that time, he stated that he was critically short of funds for his defense and announced an urgent fundraising effort of $1.5 million.

It’s worth noting that the co-founder of the crypto mixer has been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, violating U.S. sanctions, and operating an unlicensed business, facing up to 45 years in prison.