US Government Seeking To Retry Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm on Money Laundering and Sanctions-Violation Charges

US authorities are determined to convict Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm on two serious charges following a jury deadlock in his four-week trial last year. 

The 12-member jury found Storm guilty of conspiracy to operate unlicensed money transmitting business, but was unable to reach a verdict on the charges for conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions. 

In a letter to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla dated March 9th, federal prosecutors say the government wants a second chance to convict Storm. 

They are requesting the court to set a date for the retrial preferably to begin on or around October 5th or October 12th.

“As the Court knows, on August 6, 2025, a jury found the defendant guilty as to Count Two of the Superseding Indictment and failed to reach a unanimous verdict as to Counts One and Three. The Government intends to retry the defendant on Counts One and Three and expects that the retrial will last approximately three weeks.”

In a post on the social media platform X, Storm says the government is again trying to make writing code a crime.

“The 2 counts = up to 40 years in federal prison.  For writing open-source code. For a protocol I don’t control. For transactions I never touched. A jury already couldn’t agree this was criminal. But the SDNY prosecutors want to keep trying with the hope of getting a different answer.

Storm is now raising $250,000 for his legal defense funds. 

“Every dollar raised goes directly to keeping this fight alive — attorneys, experts, the full defense apparatus it takes to stand up to the SDNY prosecutors. This isn’t abstract. If I can’t fund a defense, they win by default.”

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