Crypto Tornado

US v. Roman Storm, Part 1

By: Matthew Russell Lee

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

They put sanctions on Tornado Cash. And then they took them off. Still the prosecution of Roman Storm proceeded, right into trial in the Southern District of New York.
I was there in Judge Failla's sixth-floor courtroom when she ruled, North Korea in, weapons of mass destruction out.
I was there a week later when the Ronin hack witness, in from Vietnam, described finding 170,000 Ethereum missing, tracking it back to Tornado Cash but of course no further.
They called it a privacy tool, a way to beat the relentless transparency of the blockchain. The prosecutors described Roman, the one they had in hand, wearing a T-shirt of a washing machine at the tech conference in Boston. Hiding in plain sight.
Was he like Virgil Griffith, who gave a speech in Pyongyang then pled guilty the night before trial? I was here for that too, his first appearance, professor father in from Alabama. Little Rocket Man, it seems so long ago.
Now in Congress past midnight the GENIUS Act inches forward. But still the prosecution of Roman Storm. These are the openings, the first sad victim of catfishing up from Georgia, the rug-pull youths from Cali, singing to stay out of jail. So short, the crosses; former Federal Defender Patton with a light touch, leaving traces of grounds to appeal. Or a pardon if needed?

As the first week of the US v. Roman Storm trial wrapped up, the FBI's witness was running through more than a dozen hacks and scams, how the funds had been run through Tornado Cash's mixer. Roman Semenov - not in custody - was shown telling Roman Storm that the shit would hit the fan with the Ronin hack. Storm responded by asking Why? And, How much?
There was no talk of conscious avoidance, but rather of the US cutting down its witness list. If immutable smart contracts are not property, and OFAC has no jurisdiction, would this all be found to be a crime? And what would be the place of politics? Inner City Press remains on the case(s) - watch this series