Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s legal defense fund is seeing an influx of donations as the software creator’s defense team preps for a possible retrial on charges of money laundering and sanctions violations. The Ethereum Foundation on Thursday said it will match up to $500,000 in donations to Storm’s defense fund.
The jury in Storm’s trial was deadlocked — unable to reach a unanimous verdict — on two of the three counts against him, finding the developer guilty of running an unlicensed money transmitter.
“Mistrials by hung juries do not trigger double jeopardy, so the defendant can be tried again,” Brandon Ferrick, general counsel at Douro Labs, told Cointelegraph.
Crypto industry executives and digital rights activists said Wednesday’s partial verdict sets a dangerous legal precedent for open-source software developers in the United States and impacts the development of privacy-preserving protocols and decentralized finance.
Related: Roman Storm’s early passion for code led to Silicon Valley, Tornado Cash — and a guilty verdict
Attorneys weigh in on the likelihood of a retrial
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) must decide whether it will conduct a retrial of the first and third counts in the case, attorneys told Cointelegraph.
“I’m not sure what to expect here because, while the Trump administration has taken a lighter touch with crypto, they have generally maintained their criminal prosecutions,” attorney Aaron Brogan said.
“I think it’s reasonable to conclude that the government might not retry the mistried count of money laundering, given the political posturing,” Douro Labs’ Ferrick said.
Both attorneys agreed that the appeals process will be the next major focal point of the case and expect Storm’s defense team to appeal the guilty verdict.
“The application of Section 1960 to money transmitters that he was convicted under has been extremely controversial over the last year,” Brogan told Cointelegraph.
Ferrick added that he expects Storm to appeal the guilty verdict and fight the charge “to the end.”
Storm asked for $1.5 million in donations for his legal defense fund in July. “Legal costs are piling up fast, and we urgently need your help,” he wrote in an X post.
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