Tornado Cash founder pleads not guilty in court to laundering $1 billion

Roman Storm made this statement before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan.

Roman Storm, co-founder of the crypto mixer Tornado Cash, pleaded not guilty on September 6 to federal court charges alleging that he facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion, among other things, for a group of hackers associated with North Korean authorities, as reported by Reuters.

"We believe the government has made a mistake," Storm's attorney Brian Klein told the judge.

Storm was arrested on August 23 and was released on $2 million bail secured by his home in Washington state.

The U.S. Treasury Department banned Tornado Cash in November 2022, stating that the North Korean group Lazarus, which is also under U.S. sanctions, had used the crypto mixer in April and May of the previous year to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from hacking attacks.

In August, Tornado Cash founders Roman Semenov and Roman Storm were charged in the U.S. with laundering $1 billion. Semenov was charged in absentia.

In August 2022, the alleged developer of Tornado Cash, Russian citizen Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in Amsterdam. He is also accused of money laundering through the service, but he denies it. His trial will begin in 2024.