Trump’s Justice Department rejects Tornado Cash developer’s latest argument for dismissal

Justice Department lawyers poured cold water on Tuesday Ethereum Developer Roman Sturm’s latest appeal to have his criminal case dismissed – which could now head to court for a second time.

In a letter sent today, federal prosecutors urged federal Judge Katherine Polk Failla to ignore a recent Supreme Court ruling, which Storm’s lawyers said could have significant implications for the software developer’s current legal troubles.

Storm was arrested and charged in 2023 for operating Tornado Cash, a currency mixing service that allowed Ethereum users to keep their transactions private, which are typically visible on the blockchain. Prosecutors alleged that Storm was aware that bad actors were using Tornado Cash to launder money, even though the program operated independently without direct involvement from the developer.

Last summer, a Manhattan jury found Storm sinner on charges of operating an illegal money transfer, but failed to reach verdicts on two other charges of money laundering and sanctions evasion. Storm appealed the ruling. Last month, Trump’s Justice Department foot To try the developer again for Conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to evade sanctions.

But late last month, Storm’s lawyers thought they might have gotten a break. On March 25, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled, in a seemingly unrelated music copyright case, that Cox – a major Internet service provider – could not be held liable for the illegal actions of its customers.

In a letter sent to Judge Failla last week, Storm’s lawyers argued the high court’s ruling — specifically, that Cox’s awareness that some of its clients might be illegally streaming music did not rise to the level of infringement. intention On Cox’s part for violating music copyrights – it had a direct impact on their case.

They specifically highlighted how the Trump administration itself supports Cox’s position that the internet giant should not be seen as supporting the illegal actions of some of its users. Ultimately, the Supreme Court found this argument convincing.

But today, in a frank three-page letter, the U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York rejected the argument that the Cox decision should have any impact on Storm’s case.

The Justice Department said Cox made every effort to discourage users from engaging in copyright infringement through policies that ended the vast majority of identified misconduct. Moreover, customers could use Cox’s Internet services for a wide range of purposes besides copyright infringement, the plaintiffs wrote.

In contrast, they said that Storm was personally aware of the misconduct of some Tornado Cash users and did not intervene to stop it.

Trump’s Justice Department also claimed in a letter on Tuesday that there was no evidence that a cryptocurrency privacy service like Tornado Cash was capable of “substantial or commercially significant” non-criminal uses. This claim is sure to anger champions of cryptocurrency privacy competes All users of digital assets have the right to keep their financial transactions private.

“The defendant’s conduct is simply not comparable to the conduct at issue in the case cox“In any case, the civil copyright issue has no relevance here in the first place,” the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The Department of Justice’s push to retry Roman Storm is notable given the Trump administration’s aggressive pro-crypto agenda. Last year, on multiple occasions, the Department of Justice pledge to Stop prosecution Developers of crypto privacy software, much to the delight of the crypto industry. However, federal prosecutors sent many of those developers back to prison Meanwhile, the state of Great concern To leading privacy advocates.