Tornado Cash Prosecution: DOJ Claims Ample Proof to Convict Roman Storm
Judge Should Not Clear Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm, Prosecutors Assert
The DOJ submitted its own post-trial submission last week, pushing back against Storm's request for acquittal.
By Nikhilesh De|Edited by Aoyon Ashraf Nov 16, 2025, 7:00 p.m.
Key Points:
- Attorneys with the Southern District of New York claimed that they possessed ample evidence to convict Tornado Cash programmer Roman Storm during his month-long trial.
- The legal document countered Storm's plea for exoneration, a typical procedure following his conviction from earlier in the year concerning a conspiracy violation.
- The defense team has a limited time to submit a reply.
Federal legal representatives have stated that the court proceedings for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm were lawful and that the judge presiding over his case should deny his appeal for an acquittal on all counts.
In a submission following the trial dated last Wednesday, legal counsel from the Department of Justice's Southern District of New York branch opposed Storm's plea for exoneration, asserting they demonstrated sufficiently that he created and oversaw Tornado Cash, the digital currency obfuscation service that was formerly sanctioned by the U.S. because of its utilization by North Korean entities and other parties.
Towards the close of September, Storm's legal representatives submitted a post-trial request maintaining that District Judge Katherine Polk Failla ought to absolve him of all accusations — not only the charge of conspiring to run an unauthorized money transmission service for which he was found guilty, but also the two hung charges, conspiring to launder money and conspiring to breach sanctions regulations. Inside that procedural submission, the defense contended that the prosecutors lacked the required proof to genuinely back up a guilty verdict on any charge.
Within Wednesday’s submission, the prosecution indicated that their evidence was undoubtedly sufficient to establish that Storm was a co-creator of Tornado Cash and implemented functionalities he understood would benefit cybercriminals.
"The defendant’s authority was neither indirect nor minor: he and his fellow conspirators modified the UI roughly 250 times between February 26, 2020 and August 8, 2022, (Tr. 1063-64, 1078-79), managing the avenue by which the majority of individuals accessed the Tornado Cash Service, (Tr. 1049, 1182). Throughout the period under examination, a minimum of 96 percent of Tornado Cash users gained entry to the Tornado Cash service via the UI. (Tr. 1049, 1182)," the submission conveyed, referencing portions of the transcript from the month-long legal proceedings.
The document also contended that the prosecution provided adequate evidence to bolster their charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions, and the judge should not acquit on either.
Storm's legal team has until the upcoming Wednesday to submit their response.
