Alexey Pertsev, the founder of the cryptocurrency anonymization service Tornado Cash, is facing charges from Dutch authorities for alleged involvement in laundering a sum of $1.2 billion.
Alexey Pertsev Accused of Over Thirty Illegal Acts
Tornado Cash is increasingly coming under scrutiny for its association with cryptocurrency crime, rather than providing intended services. Dutch investigators have been tracking Pertsev in connection with a series of investigations, including 36 suspicious transactions. Among the most prominent was 175 ETH transferred from the Ronin Bridge crypto protocol, linked to Axie Infinity.
Other illegal transactions subject to Dutch prosecutors' charges include transactions via decentralized protocols Harmony and Nomad Bridge.
Keith Cheng, lawyer for Alexey Pertsev, stated that "prosecutors accuse Pertsev of money laundering and generally describe it, but do not specify the specific acts allegedly committed."
Dutch authorities, however, strongly accuse Pertsev of involvement in money laundering. This claim gains weight considering that Pertsev was arrested in August 2022 by the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) on suspicion of laundering $7 billion in cryptocurrencies.
OFAC Sanctions Against Tornado Cash
Before Pertsev's arrest, Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury for involvement in money laundering totaling several billion dollars. Among the organizations accused of using Tornado Cash services was the North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
Pertsev was arrested shortly after these sanctions, but was later released on bail. In August of the following year, he was arrested again, this time on charges of money laundering, with the arrest conducted by the FBI. This occurred at a time when the cryptographic detective ZachXBT reported tracking a suspicious wallet linked to Tornado Cash since the beginning of 2023.
Since his first arrest in 2022, Pertsev has vehemently denied any involvement in money laundering or violations of money laundering laws.
The trial of Alexey Pertsev is scheduled for March 26 in the Netherlands.
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