DOJ Pushes for Retrial of Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm

U.S. prosecutors want a new trial after jurors deadlocked on money laundering and sanctions charges tied to the Tornado Cash crypto mixer.

U.S. prosecutors are seeking a new trial for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, asking a federal judge in Manhattan to schedule proceedings for October 2026. The Justice Department wants to retry Storm on money laundering and sanctions conspiracy charges after a jury last August failed to reach a verdict on those counts.

Storm was previously convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, but jurors deadlocked on the two more serious charges. If convicted on those remaining counts, he could face up to 40 years in prison.

The case centers on Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that authorities say was used to obscure more than $1 billion in illicit funds, including activity linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

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The retrial push comes amid mixed signals from Washington. A recent U.S. Treasury report acknowledged that crypto mixers can serve legitimate privacy purposes, even as regulators warn they can also be abused for illicit finance.

Storm has argued the prosecution criminalizes software development. The case is widely viewed as a major test of whether open source developers can be held responsible for how others use their code.