According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Department of Justice’s case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm is heading to trial. Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York denied Storm’s motion to dismiss the criminal charges and explained her reasons.
Storm and another developer, Roman Semenov, were indicted in August last year on three counts, including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Prosecutors allege Tornado Cash and its developers “knowingly” facilitated the laundering of more than $1 billion, including “hundreds of millions of dollars” from the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group.
Storm has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His lawyers argued in a motion filed in March that Storm only wrote the code for Tornado Cash and had nothing to do with any subsequent criminal conduct.
The judge also denied Storm's motion to require the Justice Department to provide documents from Dutch authorities, calling his arguments too "speculative." Storm's trial is scheduled to begin on December 2 in New York and is expected to last two weeks. If convicted on all three counts, he faces up to 45 years in prison.