• Appeals court ruling challenges the legality of Tornado Cash sanctions.
• Storm argues charges should be dropped due to contract immutability.
• Legal team contends no evidence supports money laundering allegations.

Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, has filed a motion to dismiss his criminal charges following a recent appeals court ruling. The court found that the U.S. Treasury exceeded its authority in sanctioning the platform’s smart contracts.

Tornado Cash Co-Founder Seeks Dismissal of Criminal Charges

Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, has requested a U.S. federal judge to dismiss the criminal charges against him. His legal team argues that the Fifth Circuit Appeals Court ruling invalidates the charges related to sanctions placed on Tornado Cash.

The motion to dismiss comes after a recent court decision that found the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) overstepped its authority when they sanctioned Tornado Cash’s smart contracts. Storm’s defense also argues that the decision undermines the base of charges against Storm which makes them legally flawed.

Storm Argues Tornado Cash Can Not Launder Money

Storm’s defense argues that Tornado Cash is not a financial institution, hence it’s not possible for the platform to conduct money laundering activities. They emphasize that the platform was designed as an immutable protocol, which cannot be changed or controlled by its creators or even the founders of the platform.

The defense also argues that the Tornado Cash protocol became non-changeable in May 2020 which was several months before the alleged money laundering activities. Therefore, Storm’s legal team argued that the charges of money laundering should be dropped and that the protocol could not be used in criminal transactions.

Legal Defense Argues Tornado Cash Protocol Is Immutable

Storm’s legal team argues that all charges against him are invalid because of an earlier ruling by the Fifth Circuit. They argue that the decision of the court shows that Tornado Cash smart contracts cannot be changed or used to breach the United States sanctions. Additionally, Storm emphasized that the appeals court found Tornado Cash’s smart contracts are not “property” under IEEPA, thus making them exempt from sanctions.

The defense team also believes that this case should be dismissed because there is no legal reason for the case to proceed after the ruling by the Fifth Circuit. The court has effectively settled this major legal battle about the immutability of the protocol and there are no more legal questions for the Jury to address.

The Tornado Cash  legal Battle

The legal battle emerged from a September 2022 case that was filed by six Tornado Cash users against OFAC with the support of Coinbase. Although the plaintiffs initially lost, the appeals court ruled in their favor in November 2024. 

Storm and his co-founder Roman Semenov, were both charged in August 2023. They were accused of facilitating laundering of over $1billion worth of cryptocurrency including funds associated with the North Korean hacking group, Lazarus. 

Semenov is still wanted but Alexey Pertsev, the third co-founder of Tornado Cash has been detained in the Netherlands on similar charges.