US Prosecutors Reject Tornado Cash Co-founder‘s Argument for Dismissal

Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has penned a response to Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm’s motion for acquittal, criticizing his alleged criminal behavior.  

In a Tuesday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Clayton said that Storm’s criminal use of Tornado Cash was “window dressing at best and outright misdirection at worst,” rejecting arguments that he be allowed to use a civil copyright case in his defense.

The US Attorney’s filing followed a Thursday notice from Storm’s lawyers saying they intended to use a 2026 Supreme Court case, Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, as part of an argument about the Tornado Cash co-founder’s intent to participate in the crimes of which he is accused: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.

Clayton said that Storm’s conduct “bears no resemblance” to that in the Cox case, which involved civil liability for copyright infringement. According to the US Attorney, there was no evidence that the Tornado Cash co-founder implemented effective anti-money-laundering measures.

“The defendant’s conduct simply is not comparable to the conduct at issue in Cox,” said Clayton. “In any event, a civil copyright case has no relevance here in the first place.”

Last August, a jury convicted Storm of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, but deadlocked on conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions charges, opening the door to a potential retrial. The case has drawn widespread attention from the crypto industry for how developers may be held responsible for their code.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Storm case are scheduled to meet on Thursday. 

Related: US lawmakers move to protect blockchain devs from prosecution

Attorney behind memo calling for end to crypto “regulation by prosecution” gets top DOJ job

Last week, US President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, substituting Deputy AG Todd Blanche as acting head of the Justice Department until the Senate can vote on a replacement. Blanche, who previously acted as Trump’s personal attorney, also penned an April 2025 memo calling for the end of what he called “regulation by prosecution” in the Justice Department.

Although Blanche did not call out Storm by name, he did say that the department will “not pursue actions against the platforms that [criminal] enterprises utilize to conduct their illegal activities” and called for an end to cases inconsistent with that goal.

Storm cited Blanche’s memo in a March X post after prosecutors called to retry the Tornado Cash co-founder on the two deadlocked counts.

”The 2 counts = up to 40 years in federal prison,” said Storm. “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.”

It’s unclear how Blanche may use his new role to direct DOJ policy, or how long he will remain as acting AG. Clayton has asked a federal judge to consider an October retrial for Storm, but as of Tuesday, no date had been set.

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