Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm faces a trial in the United States in July, and a federal judge has declined to order the U.S. Department of Justice to review its records related to the case.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla, in a Friday ruling, declined to order the DOJ to review materials it holds that might be helpful to Tornado Cash (TORN) developer Roman Stormâs legal team.
The judgeâs ruling comes as Storm and his defense team prepare for the developerâs trial scheduled for July 2025, CoinDesk reported.
âIâm not going to require a further review based on the representations made that thereâs no additional material of this type, and based on my views that I donât believe the material was exculpatory,â the judge noted.
The judgeâs decision is key, as an order finding that prosecutors failed to share all relevant information in their possession with Stormâs legal team could have impacted the defenseâs case during trial.
The law requires that prosecutors share with the defendant all information they have that could aid the accused personâs defense. Storm is set to stand trial after the DOJ confirmed earlier this month that the government will proceed with the prosecution of the Ethereum mixer co-founder.
That decision came weeks after the government circulated a memo stating that the DOJ would no longer seek to bring charges against crypto mixing services.
Instead, prosecutors will now go after what they termed âbad actorsâ within the industry who exploit such solutions to aid illicit activities like money laundering. The DOJâs crackdown would not be focused on the platforms, but bad players.
The DOJ initially filed charges against Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, another Tornado Cash founder, in August 2023. The charges included operating the mixing service and laundering more than $1 billion.
In February this year, a Dutch court released Alexey Pertsev, a Tornado Cash developer arrested in August 2022 in Amsterdam.