Roman Storm has not said whether he will testify in his own defense at his trial, which begins on July 14 in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The co-founder of cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash is facing serious charges of money laundering and conspiracy.
In an interview published Wednesday by Crypto In America, Storm revealed that his legal team plans to refute allegations at trial that he personally profited from illicit funds through his involvement in the development of Tornado Cash. However, when asked whether he would testify in his own defense on charges of money laundering, conspiracy to engage in unlicensed money transfer activities, and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, the developer declined to give a definite answer.
“This is the decision that we will make,” Storm said. “I don’t have a 100% answer right now. I may or may not.”
Sanctions and charges
U.S. authorities filed charges against Storm in 2023, about a year after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on addresses associated with Tornado Cash. The government agency said the mixer allegedly facilitated the laundering of cryptocurrencies stolen by North Korean hackers, the Lazarus Group.
Source: justice.gov
Roman Semenov, another Tornado Cash developer named in the same indictment as Storm, remains at large as of publication. Alexey Pertsev, another co-founder and developer, was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands and sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Community Support
Since his arrest, Storm has received widespread support from members of the crypto industry, who describe his prosecution as an attack on developers and privacy.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Paradigm founder Matt Huang, and the Ethereum Foundation have each contributed thousands of dollars to Storm’s legal defense fund. As of June 26, the fund had raised more than $750,000.
The EF is donating $500K to the legal defense of Roman Storm, and we will match up to a further $750K in donations from the community.
Privacy is normal, and writing code is not a crime.
— Ethereum Foundation (@ethereumfndn) June 13, 2025
He has serious psychological trauma from this case. “It’s so devastating … you believed in one thing, you believed there was common sense, that it was a misunderstanding, and instead you have these tough things happening in your life. It’s definitely going to take me a while to recover and get back to doing what I love.”, he said.
Storm’s trial begins in federal court in the Southern District of New York on July 14.
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Source:: Roman Storm vs. the United States: The Tornado Cash Trial Begins