Roman Storm, co-founder of cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, was arrested on Aug. 23 on money laundering and other charges, and was released on bail shortly after being taken into custody by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). said the lawyer.
Storm’s attorney, Brian Klein, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Aug. 24 Announce Storm has been released on bail.
Klein noted that he remains “very disappointed” by the fact that prosecutors charged him simply because the developer helped create the software. He added:
“Their novel legal theory has dangerous implications for all software developers.”
On August 23, the US Department of Justice announced the arrest of Storm and charged Tornado Cash founders Storm and Roman Semenov, and he was released on bail the next day.
U.S. authorities specifically charged the developer with operating the Tornado Cash service and laundering more than $1 billion in “proceeds of crime.” Other charges relate to “conspiracy to violate sanctions” and “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business.”
Klein, Storm’s attorney, did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
related: Tornado Cash Lawsuit Judge Sides with U.S. Treasury in Summary Judgment Motion
The latest news comes about a year after the U.S. Treasury Department added Tornado Cash-related addresses to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of Specially Designated Nationals. Dutch authorities subsequently arrested another Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev. The developer was released in April 2023 after nearly nine months in prison.
Pertsev and Storm aren’t the only developers sued in connection with Tornado Cash, though. Another co-founder, Roman Semenov, was also added to OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons on August 23. The developer has still not been arrested.
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