- Roman Storm’s defence is pushing back on evidence allegedly tying scam funds to Tornado Cash, raising the possibility of a mistrial.
- Blockchain expert Taylor Monahan says the funds never touched Tornado Cash and were misattributed by a private tracing firm.
- An FBI agent testified he hadn’t investigated the link, with a judge admitting she couldn’t assess the tracing evidence.
Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s legal team is considering a motion for mistrial after questioning the accuracy of key evidence introduced by prosecutors in the opening week of his criminal trial.
At the centre of the dispute is the testimony of Hanfeng Ling, who said she lost approximately US$250,000 (AU$383,600) in a pig-butchering scam in 2021. Ling said Payback, a crypto recovery firm, traced her funds to Tornado Cash and advised her to contact the platform – an email prosecutors claim was ignored. However, Storm’s lawyers say they found no trace of Ling’s funds reaching the platform.
Related: Crypto Mixer Co-Founder Roman Storm Appeals for $500K “Code as Free Speech” Legal Fund
Analyst: Tornado Cash Not Involved
Blockchain analyst Taylor Monahan published a thread on X showing the transactions led instead to NTU Capital, the scam operation that received her assets. Monahan described Payback’s tracing as “incompetent” and instead showed a detailed summary of where Ling’s funds ended up. Her findings were later supported by other blockchain investigators.
In court, Storm’s counsel David Patton said he assumed prosecutors had verified the link before presenting Ling as a witness. But FBI agent Joel DeCapua acknowledged he had not been asked to confirm the transaction path and could not independently verify that the funds had passed through Tornado Cash.
Prosecutor Nathan Rehn told the court that another government witness from the IRS would testify to the link, describing it as a “few short hops” between Ling’s assets and the service. Judge Katherine Failla noted she lacked the technical expertise to assess the validity of the tracing.
The trial, which began 14 July, is expected to last up to four weeks. Storm faces charges including conspiracy to launder funds, violating sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transmission service. A conviction could carry up to 45 years in prison. Prosecutors allege he built Tornado Cash with full awareness it would be used to launder illicit crypto, including funds linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Related: US Secret Service Becomes Major Crypto Custodian After US$400M Seizure
Credit: Source link
