According to a report from “The Block,” the defense team of Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, has submitted a series of new documents in an attempt to overturn the charges brought against the developer by the US government before the trial begins.
In response to the motion to dismiss filed by Storm, his defense team submitted a reply last Friday, reiterating that the case should be dismissed on the grounds that the government has not adequately proven his active involvement in the criminal activities alleged in the indictment. The motion states:
The majority of the document questions the government’s characterization of Tornado Cash as a “money transmitting business,” a point that has even caught the attention of US Senators Ron Wyden and Cynthia Lummis, with their letter opposing the government’s interpretation of the term also included in Storm’s motion. Storm’s lawyers argue that describing Tornado as a money transmitter “…violates due process, lenity principles, and principles against new interpretations.”
Challenging the government’s evidence
In other motions, Storm’s lawyers argue that government prosecutors should be compelled to produce certain communications with Dutch authorities, and that the seizure of his cryptocurrency hardware wallet constitutes a “wholesale assault on the Fourth Amendment.”
Storm’s lawyers argue that the government should not be allowed to use Storm’s private keys to arbitrarily search the blockchain, “seizing ‘any and all’ cryptocurrency that it believes belongs to Mr. Storm, and transferring that cryptocurrency into their own wallets.” The lawyers also point out that the government itself admits it is unsure how to link any recovered cryptocurrency to any alleged illegal activity, stating that “rather, the government is essentially on a fishing expedition, seeing if it can find evidence of crimes.”
However, in its response to Storm’s motion to dismiss, the government notes that pre-trial dismissals are extremely rare in cases of this nature. The prosecution argues, “In fact, the vast majority of defendant’s arguments for dismissing the indictment are factual assertions, better suited for a jury to decide, rather than a motion claiming that the indictment is legally insufficient on its face.”
A hearing on Roman Storm’s motion is scheduled for July 12th in the Southern District Court of New York.
Related report: “Tornado Cash mixer protocol developer Alexey Pertsev sentenced to 64 months in prison for money laundering charges.”