Jury Seated in Tornado Cash Developer Roman Storm’s Criminal Trial

A 12-member jury has been selected for the high-profile criminal trial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, with opening arguments set to begin later today at the Thurgood Marshall courthouse in Manhattan. The jury, consisting of seven women and five men, spans a range of educational and professional backgrounds, including an IT manager and a Palantir employee. Their ages range from 20s to 60s.

Storm faces serious federal charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Jury selection began on Monday, and the trial is expected to last about four weeks.

As the trial opens, Storm’s defense team is challenging some of the prosecution's evidence, particularly messages involving fellow developer Alexey Pertsev. A key piece of contested evidence includes an encrypted chat message prosecutors attributed to Pertsev, asking about “cashing out 600 mil” following the Axie Infinity Ronin Bridge hack. However, the defense clarified that the message originated from a former CoinDesk reporter, not Pertsev, and was sent in a group chat that included other journalists, Storm, and Pertsev.

Storm’s legal team argues this misattribution is just one example of how the prosecution has mischaracterized the evidence. The debate over admissible communications is expected to play a significant role in the coming weeks as the court evaluates the technical and legal implications of Tornado Cash’s decentralized architecture.

The trial’s outcome could set a precedent for the legal boundaries of open-source software development and privacy tools in the crypto space, particularly in how developers may be held accountable for the use of their code.