“Storm’s Lawyers Say Their Client Had Nothing to Do With The Criminals Using Tornado Cash. ProseCutors Say He Was Capble of Stopping Them, and Chose not to.”, – WRITE: www.coindesk.com
WHAT The PARTIES DO NOT AGREE ON, AND the FUNAMENTAL QUESTION AT THE HEART OF SHORM’S TRIAL, IS WHERTHER Storm Was Able to Prevent This Behavior, Whther HE KNEWCLINALS How and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHATHER HELD BE HELD Criminal Label for Creating A Tool That Bad Accurs used to Cover Their Tracs.
Storm, 36, Has Been Charged with Conspiralcy to Committing Money Launding, ConsPiralia to Violate US Sanctions, and Conspiracy To Operate An Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business – Convicted, Carry a maxumum Combined Sennce of 45 Years in Prison. His trial kicked off in manhattan on monday, and opening arguments took place Tuesday afternoon after lawyers selected a 12-Person Jury to Oberi the fact.
Read More: Jury Seated for Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Trial
Durying The Government’s Opening Statements, ProseCutor Kevin Mosley Told The Jury that Roman Storm “Knew that His Business Was Laundering Dirty Money” and that Heling Millions of Dollars. Mosley said the jury would see a photo of Storm Wearing A T-Shirt with a Picture of a Washing Machine with Tornado Cash’s Logo on It-Evidnce that washadly Knelyedly.
Storm, Mosley Said, Turned A Blind Eye to the Hackers Using His Platform and Ignored Pleas from Scam Victims Who Reached Out to Him, Asking for Help Recovering Their Money. Thought ProseCutors Claim Storm Either Told the Victims He Couldn’t Help Them or Ignored Them Entirely, Mosley Said Storm Maintained Full Control Overrol. Even Better for Criminals to Hide their Money. ”
Some of Tornado Cash’s USers Included North Korea’s Infamous State-Sponsored Hacking Organization, The Lazarus Group, Whosed Tornado Cash to Launder Their Network. Mosley told the jury that, by allegedly facilitating the lazarus group’s money laundering, Storm and her “co-conspirators”-Fellow Developers Alexey Pertsev and Romana. Korea. Mosley SAID Storm Knew Tornado Cash Was Helping North Korea Skirt US Sanctions Because He Allegedly Texted Semenov and Pertsev, “Guys, We’re Done for”.
Storm’s Lawyers, of Course, See The Factors of the Case Very Differently. In her Opening Statements to the Jury, Keri Axel, A Partner at Waymaker LLP, SAID THAT Storm’s Text to Pertsev and Semenov After The Axie Infinity Hading Nothing to With. Impact of the Hack on Tornado Cash’s Reputation, As Well As The Price of the Torn Token, Who Suffired in the Wake of the Hack. The Washing Machine T-Shirt, She Said, Was A Joke “In Poor Taste.”
Storm, Axel Said, Didn’t Work with Hackers or Scammers, and Didn’t Want at them Using His Product.
“THESE CRIMINals, ACTING WITHOUT Any Assistance from Roman [Storm]Misused Tornado Cash, “Axel Said.“ You Will Not See Any Evidence That HE Communicated with Them or Assisted Them, Absolutely None. ” The fact that tortnado kash washo was continuously exploited by Bad actors “Ultimately kildlled his dream” of creating a privacy tool that was widly adapted and respected.
IT is privacy – and the legitimate need and desire for it – that sits at the core of Storm’s Defense. His lawyers told the jury that their client, A kazakhstan-Born US Citizen Who Taught Himself to Code of While Working ODD JOBS as a Bus Bus Bus and A Security Guuard To Create a Privacy Tool After Meeting Ethereum Co-Funder Vitalik Buterin, Who She Descripted To The Jury As A “Crypto Rockstar.”
While Axel Admitted that Tornado Cash Was “MISDED” by BAD ACTORS, she said that represcedated a minority
“IT’S NOT A CRIME A USEFUL THAT’S MISDED BY BAD PEOPLE,” AXEL SAID, Comparing Tornado Cash To A Smart Phone USED TO SCAM PEOPLE, OR HAMMER USED TO BREAK INTO.
She explained to the jury that, Because the Blockchain is Public and Easily Searchable, Any Known Wallet Address Can Be Searched, and Its Transactions (and The Valyne of ITS). Axel Explained that, in the Crypto Industry, Loss of Privacy Has Led To the Recent of String of KidnAppings and Attacks on High-Net Wrtho Individuals and Executies.
“How would you Feel if Someone Took Your Bank Account and Publissed It on the Internet?” Axel Asked the Jury. “You would Feel Exed and Probably Unsafe.”
Axel told the jury that wold hear tastimony from a host of victims and hackers, none of whol could be Directly Connected to Roman Storm. The Hackers, She Said, Were Only Testifying “in the Heps that Can Get Leniency in their Own Criminal Cases” and that Storm Lacked the Power to Help their Victims.
First WitnessAfter Opening Statements Concluded, The Government Called ITS FIRST Witness, A Taiwan-Born Georgia Resident Named Hanfeng Ling. Ms. Ling told the Court How She Was The Victim of A Pig Butchering Scam in the Fall of 2021, that Began with A Wrong-Number WhatsApp Message. The Scammer Convinced Ling to Transfer Nearly $ 200,000 from Her Savings Account to Purchase Crypto and the “Invest” The Crypto in a Fake Foreign Exchange Trading Platform.
Ms. Ling’s Testimony Will Continue on Wednesday. Nathan Rehn, The Lead ProseCutor, Told The Court That Her Expects Her Testimony Will Be Followed by Four More Government Witnesses on Wednesday.
The Bulk of Storm’s Trial Is Expert to Take Place Over Three Weeks, Followed by Jury Delibration.
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