Legal representatives for Tornado Cash creator Roman Storm submitted a motion requesting the court to reassess the motion for case dismissal based on the prosecution’s failure to disclose exculpatory evidence involving interactions with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) from 2023.
In a May 16 correspondence from Storm’s legal team to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, the FinCEN documents indicate that non-custodial cryptocurrency mixers do not meet the legal criteria for a “money transmitting business,” a fact that prosecutors have reportedly been aware of since at least 2023.
Despite understanding the FinCEN advisories regarding cryptocurrency mixers, state prosecutors continued with legal actions against the Samourai Wallet developers and Tornado Cash, the lawyers claimed.
US prosecutors rejected allegations of withholding evidence, asserting that they provided the FinCEN communications within the required timeframe for the defense and the court during the legal discovery process.
Storm’s defense referenced the identical legal documents and arguments that the attorneys for the Samourai Wallet developers presented to the court in a legal letter dated May 5. Storm’s lawyers remarked:
“The revelations in the Samourai case indicate that the government, at the very least, acted recklessly and, at worst, deliberately misled this Court with its assertions regarding FinCEN guidance when addressing the motions to dismiss and to compel discovery.”
The correspondence continued to assert that although the government maintains that the cases possess only “superficial similarities,” they share the fundamental traits of cryptocurrency mixers under the law, rendering the FinCEN documents critical for dismissing the case against Storm.
Related: Crypto group urges Trump to halt prosecution of crypto developers, Roman Storm
Roman Storm’s trial progresses despite ruling sanctions against Tornado as unlawful
Federal Judge Robert Pitman rendered a decision on April 28 denying the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) the authority to reimpose sanctions on Tornado Cash — establishing a legal precedent for non-custodial mixer cases.
Notwithstanding this, US federal prosecutors still proceeded with the case against Storm, even though the charges have been altered.
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