The US Department of Justice affirmed that the criminal charges against Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm are not related to freedom of speech or open source. Instead, Storm was prosecuted for using source code for profiteering and conducting illegal business activities, according to information from Protos on May 10.
The US Constitution does not protect all freedom of speech
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has just officially rejected the appeal of Roman Storm, founder of Tornado Cash. The DoJ reaffirmed that the indictment is irrelevant to whether Tornado Cash's source code is considered free speech or protected by the Constitution under the First Amendment.
“The defendant was not prosecuted for posting the source code,” the DoJ stated. “Instead, he was prosecuted for using the source code for personal gain and conducting illegal business.”
Similar to banks using source code to process financial transactions, the DoJ explains, if that source code performs the function of a money transmitter under the law, then that source code is not simply is purely freedom of speech, but humans must ensure that implementation of that source code complies with the law.
According to the DoJ, Tornado Cash is a combination of source code, speech and business operations, and is a human-made product. Storm isn't just about posting source code; he ran a business and made business decisions for many years.
DoJ focuses on Storm's intentional actions. Specifically, prosecutors focused on his knowingly running an alleged money laundering operation that netted him millions in personal profits from laundering more than $1 billion in proceeds from the operation. criminal action.
Founder Tornado Cash criticizes Congress
Storm is currently facing criminal charges of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to operate an unregistered money transmitter and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
For his part, Storm maintains his argument, that he was in no way colluding with parties like North Korea's Lazarus Group, which illegally sent money through Tornado Cash without his knowledge.
Storm asserts that publishing open source code is not a crime. His lawyer will likely cite the Bernstein v. DoJ case, an old case that forced the US government to amend regulations regarding the export of encryption software to the Internet.
Storm argued that the DoJ's charges against him were unconstitutionally vague, which prosecutors rejected in their objection. The DoJ countered that Storm's complaints essentially contend that the language of the law passed by Congress is somehow unconstitutionally vague – which does not legally benefit Storm.
If Storm wanted Congress to change the law, the DoJ argued, he should write to his duly elected representatives. Currently, it is the duty of the executive branch of government, including the DoJ, to enforce the written laws of the National Assembly, the legislative branch of the Government.
The DoJ also rejected Storm's assertion that he should not be prosecuted for exporting Tornado Cash software. The DoJ was clear, reiterating that the indictment “does not charge defendants with the export of Tornado Cash software.”
This allegation, prosecutors clarified, included Lazarus Group illegally sending funds from a wallet known to belong to Lazarus Group, something the DoJ said Tornado Cash should have known about and tried to prevent, when the Department Finance has publicly added Lazarus Group's blockchain wallet to its sanctions list in 2022.
Roman Storm's trial will be presided over by Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District Court of New York. She will review the DoJ's response and decide whether to grant or deny Storm's appeal in case number 1:23-cr-00430, USA v. Storm. This is a case that is attracting the attention of the cryptocurrency community and legal experts, because it could set a precedent for the future management of DeFi protocols.