The US authorities can nonetheless retry Twister Money developer Roman Storm on counts of cash laundering and violating sanctions attributable to a hung jury, in accordance with attorneys.
“The Division of Justice (DOJ) will determine within the coming days if it desires to retry these prices in a brand new trial,” Jake Chervinsky, chief authorized officer at enterprise capital agency Variant Fund, wrote on X.
Storm was convicted on one felony depend for his involvement with Twister Money on Wednesday. The jury discovered him responsible of conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise.
Nonetheless, jury members didn’t attain a unanimous verdict on the costs of conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions.
Legal professional Aaron Brogan advised Cointelegraph that Storm’s verdict nonetheless carries broader authorized implication for decentralized protocols.
“The issue with this broad utility of federal cash transmitter legislation is that, frankly, many in DeFi fear they may apply as strongly to them as to Twister Money. And whereas the federal government in all probability gained’t deliver prices towards all of DeFi, the broad publicity offers them a strong stick in any negotiations.”
The case’s potential for lasting implications has drawn shut consideration from the crypto business and privateness advocates. Attorneys say the precedent-setting trial is crucial for digital privateness and will have a big affect on open-source software program builders in america.
Associated: SEC’s Peirce defends transaction privateness as Twister Money verdict looms
Attorneys react to the partial verdict
The US can nonetheless deliver Roman Storm again to courtroom on the unresolved prices of conspiracy to commit cash laundering and conspiracy to violate North Korea sanctions. The choice would depend upon a number of components, together with the probability of securing a conviction in a second trial.
“If the Trump administration desires the USA to be the crypto capital of the world, then the DOJ should not be allowed to retry the 2 deadlocked prices,” Chervinsky mentioned.
Chervinsky described the partial verdict as “a tragic day for DeFi,” warning that part 1960 below the US Code, which prosecutors used to cost Storm with working an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, represents an existential menace to decentralized finance functions.
“All in all, this results in a reasonably miserable conclusion,” legal professional Zack Shapiro wrote on X, however mentioned that it was good the “draconian” jail sentences for the cash laundering prices had been off the desk for now.
I feel it is affordable to conclude that the federal government won’t retry the mistried counts of cash laundering given the political posturing
A US courtroom overturned the Twister Money sanctions in January 2025, handing decentralized crypto and privacy-preserving protocols a significant authorized victory.
The sanctions had been imposed by the US Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) in 2022, accusing the crypto mixing service of cash laundering.
DOJ officers claimed the Twister Money protocol helped launder over $7 billion in crypto between 2019 and 2022 and was instrumental to North Korean state-sanctioned hackers laundering funds stolen via hacking.
Journal: Twister Money 2.0: The race to construct secure and authorized coin mixers
