The United States has indicted Roman Semenov and Roman Storm, the co-founders of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, on charges including money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The US Justice Department released a statement detailing the charges, following the platform’s ban last year due to its alleged involvement with North Korean hackers.
Roman Storm, a naturalized US citizen, was arrested in Washington state, while Roman Semenov, a Russian national, remains at large. A third co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was previously detained in the Netherlands in August of the previous year on similar charges.
Tornado Cash, founded in Russia and sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2021, is accused of facilitating over $1 billion in money laundering transactions. Specifically, the platform allegedly laundered significant funds for the Lazarus Group, a hacking collective linked to financing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
US Attorney Damian Williams emphasized that Tornado Cash’s founders knowingly assisted hackers and fraudsters in concealing their illicit gains, despite claims of providing a sophisticated privacy service. He further stated that cryptocurrency transactions used for money laundering violate the law and will be subject to prosecution.
In response to these allegations, the US Treasury has also imposed sanctions on Semenov for his purported role in assisting the Lazarus Group.
Tornado Cash, operational since 2019, is a crypto mixing service that blends various crypto assets to obscure their origins, attracting both privacy-conscious users and criminal actors. The platform’s ban has drawn criticism from crypto advocates who view it as an overreach infringing on legitimate privacy expectations.
Brian Klein, representing Roman Storm, expressed disappointment in the charges, emphasizing his client’s cooperation with the investigation and disputing any criminal wrongdoing. Klein also mentioned that Storm’s development of software based on a novel legal theory has broader implications for software developers. The legal representatives of Semenov and Pertsev have not made immediate comments on the matter.
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