The defense team for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm has filed a series of new documents seeking to have the trial against Storm dismissed before it even begins, arguing that prosecutors overstepped their authority in their final pretrial motions.
After the government responded to Storm's motion to dismiss the trial, his defense team filed another response on Friday, arguing that the case against him should be dismissed on the grounds that the government did not do enough to prove that Storm actively participated in the crimes alleged in the indictment.
“In fact, as the government acknowledged, when criminals began abusing the Tornado Cash protocol, it was immutable and accessible to anyone with an internet connection,” the motion states.
Much of the filing questions the government’s characterization of Tornado Cash as a “money transmitter business,” a description that even caught the attention of Senators Ron Wyden and Cynthia Lummis, who sent a letter objecting to the government’s interpretation of the term, which is also included in Storm’s motion. Storm’s lawyers argue that characterizing Tornado Cash as a money transmitter “…violates due process, leniency, and principles against innovative structures.”
In other motions, attorneys argued that government prosecutors should be compelled to produce certain communications with Dutch authorities and that the seizure of his cryptocurrency hardware wallets violated the Fourth Amendment. (The Block)
Earlier in April, the U.S. Department of Justice rejected Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him, saying that the documents submitted by the defendant raised controversial facts that the jury should weigh. #feedfeverchallenge
