Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm has filed a motion urging a U.S. federal judge to dismiss criminal charges against him. The request follows a recent appeals court ruling that found the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash’s smart contracts.
Storm Argues Charges Are Legally Flawed
In a December 18 filing with a Manhattan district court, Storm cited the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ November decision, which determined that Tornado Cash’s smart contracts cannot be sanctioned under U.S. law. The ruling stated that these immutable smart contracts, which cannot be altered or controlled by their creators, are not “property” of any foreign national or entity and, therefore, cannot be blocked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Storm argued that this decision directly undermines all three charges against him, especially the claim that he conspired to violate the IEEPA. His motion highlighted the court’s reasoning that Tornado Cash’s developers lack the ability to stop the platform’s use, even by sanctioned entities like North Korean hackers.
The motion included an excerpt from the appeals court’s ruling:
“Mr. Storm could no more choose to stop them than he could choose to stop the sun from rising.”
Additional Charges Challenged
In addition to the IEEPA-related charge, Storm is facing allegations of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and engaging in a money laundering conspiracy. He argued these charges are invalid because Tornado Cash, as a protocol, became immutable in May 2020—several months before the alleged conspiracy began. According to Storm, the platform’s immutability prevents it from being classified as a financial institution or a money-laundering entity.
Storm further emphasized that the appeals court ruling decided “as a matter of law” that Tornado Cash is immutable, leaving “nothing left for the jury to decide.”
Background on the OFAC Ruling and Tornado Cash Case
The Fifth Circuit ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by six Tornado Cash users, with support from Coinbase, against OFAC and the Treasury in September 2022. The lawsuit contested the legality of the sanctions on Tornado Cash’s smart contracts. After losing the initial case, the plaintiffs appealed and won in November 2023, leading to a significant legal precedent that Storm is now leveraging.
In August 2023, the U.S. charged Storm and fellow co-founder Roman Semenov with aiding in laundering over $1 billion in cryptocurrency through Tornado Cash. The allegations included facilitating transactions for the North Korean-affiliated Lazarus Group. While Storm was arrested, Semenov, a Russian national, remains at large. Another Tornado Cash co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, is being held in the Netherlands on related charges.
If Storm’s motion succeeds, it could set a precedent for how decentralized platforms and their creators are treated under U.S. law, particularly regarding immutability and smart contract functionality. The case also highlights ongoing tensions between regulatory authorities and developers of decentralized technologies.
