US Department of Justice rejects Tornado Cash co-founder's motion to withdraw lawsuit: Content involves disputed facts

Coindesk reported that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) opposed the motion filed by Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash in March, seeking to dismiss charges of conspiracy to launder money. In a court filing on Friday, the DOJ emphasized that the motion involves disputed facts that should be discussed and considered by the jury.

Tornado developer Roman Storm argues for "code is speech" defense, urges DOJ to drop charges

DOJ: Motion Involves Controversial Facts

In August of last year, Roman Semenov and Roman Storm, co-founders of the sanctioned cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly conspiring to commit money laundering, violating sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

Subjective Views Are Controversial

Facing the motion filed by Storm's attorney regarding code writing freedom, the DOJ believes that the defendants' interpretation of Tornado Cash's services is overly subjective, attempting to distance themselves from the fact that the smart contract may have facilitated money laundering.

The DOJ stated in the document:

The defendants' interpretation of how Tornado Cash services operate is inherently subjective and cannot simply be dismissed based on this controversial perspective, or even based on claims of lacking specific intent for certain actions.

Additionally, "the controversial fact must still be discussed by the jury and is not suitable for being raised as a motion at this early stage," the DOJ added.

No Effort to Exclude Sanctioned Addresses from Transactions

Furthermore, the DOJ objected to Storm's claim that he had already relinquished ownership of the contract and could not prevent criminal entities from using Tornado Cash:

The Department of Justice asserts that Storm and his co-founder still had control of the contract during the time frame mentioned in the indictment, from 2019 to August 2022.

Additionally, the prosecution team led by Damian Williams emphasized in the document that Storm should be held accountable for Tornado Cash's operations and criticized him for failing to implement effective measures to exclude sanctioned addresses from using their service.

Currently, Storm is expected to stand trial in September this year, while his co-founder Semenov remains at large.

Mixing Protocol Under Attack

In addition to the high-profile Tornado Cash case, enforcement actions against mixing protocols have shown no signs of slowing down in various countries over the past few months to years:

• March 2023: Darknet's largest money laundering protocol busted! Germany and the U.S. seize over 1,900 bitcoins from the encrypted mixer ChipMixer
• January 2024: Following the Orbit Bridge hack, South Korea regulators to crack down on illegal use of mixing protocols
• March 2024: Bitcoin Fog mixing protocol founder convicted of money laundering, Tornado Cash case to follow suit?
• April 2024: Regulators target mixing services again! Samourai Wallet founder accused of money laundering by the U.S. Department of Justice
• April 2024: Targeting mixing protocols? FBI warns against using unregistered MSB companies' crypto transfer services, criticized for vague definition

CryptoQuant CEO Advocates for Mixing Protocols: Not Criminal Activity

However, just a few days ago, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju expressed support for mixing protocols in response to the Samourai Wallet case:

Privacy is a core value of Bitcoin. Mixing protocols themselves are not criminal activities, and even cryptocurrency exchanges use mixing to protect user privacy, much like punishing the inventor of the knife instead of the one using it.

In addition, whistleblower Edward Snowden, in a tweet, stated that the recent crackdown on mixing protocols is an attack on people's financial privacy:

The Department of Justice once again treats developers building financial privacy applications as criminals, but privacy should be a fundamental right for people and not treated as an exception.