According to TechFlow, former Tornado Cash developers have been charged with money laundering, sanctions violations, and unlicensed remittance operations, and one of them has been convicted and imprisoned. After Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm and developer Alexey Pertsev were arrested, the crypto community set up JusticeDAO to raise funds for their legal defense.
JusticeDAO has raised 654 ETH (about $2.3 million) through the "Free Alexey & Roman" fundraising campaign on the decentralized platform Juicebox. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also made a significant contribution to the fund.
Despite community support, Tornado Cash founders still face serious charges. The U.S. Treasury Department accused Tornado Cash of being used to launder more than $7 billion, and Storm and Roman Semenov were charged with money laundering and sanctions violations. In May 2024, a Dutch court found developer Pertsev guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to five years and four months in prison.
