U.S. federal prosecutors have asked a Manhattan judge to retry Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm in early October 2026. They proposed October 5 or October 12, dates they say match the defense team’s availability.
The DOJ wants a new jury to hear the last two conspiracy charges, including violations of sanctions and money laundering. If the jury finds Storm guilty on these charges, he may spend up to 40 years in jail.
A jury found Storm guilty in August of last year of planning to run an unauthorized money-transfer business. But after several days of discussion, the jurors couldn’t agree on the more serious accusations, resulting in a partial mistrial.
Charges and Background of the Tornado Cash Case
Storm is one of the developers who invented Tornado Cash, a crypto mixing service that hides transaction trails on public blockchains. Prosecutors allege the service handled more than $1 billion in illegal money and helped North Korea’s Lazarus Group clean hundreds of millions of dollars.
The DOJ charged Storm and another developer, Roman Semenov, in August 2023 with conspiracy to violate sanctions, running an unauthorized money-transmitting firm, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Storm said he wasn’t guilty because he is a software developer and didn’t have access to user payments.
The jury’s mixed verdict in 2025 left the money laundering and sanctions counts unresolved.
Court Schedule and Defense Response
Before any retrial happens, the court must decide on Storm’s pending Rule 29 motion for acquittal on legal grounds. Judge Katherine Polk Failla is set to take up that motion in a hearing scheduled for April 9.
The court was advised by Storm’s defense team that it is “premature” to set a date for a retrial before that motion is settled. Earlier papers reveal that the defense wants to file motions after the trial that might change or limit what a second jury hears.
Storm has kept raising money for his legal defense and has publicly denied being a money launderer. After the new request became public, he posted on X, asking followers who care about code and financial privacy to pay attention to the situation.
The retrial push comes as U.S. agencies send mixed signals on crypto privacy tools. On the same day, prosecutors sought new dates, and the Treasury Department sent Congress a report noting that some digital asset users rely on mixers to maintain legitimate financial privacy on public blockchains.
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