von • Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash was arrested on Aug. 23 for money laundering and other violations.
• His lawyer Brian Klein said that he was released on bail soon after his arrest.
• Another co-founder, Roman Semenov, was added in the OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons on Aug. 23 as well but has not been arrested yet.
Roman Storm Arrested
On Aug. 23, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest of Roman Storm alongside charges related to money-laundering and other alleged violations. Storm is the co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash who was detained by the U.S DOJ at that time.
Released on Bail
Storm’s lawyer, Brian Klein, took to X (formerly Twitter) on Aug. 24 to announce that Storm had been released on bail soon after he was detained by the U.S DOJ . Klein noted that he still remains “very disappointed” about the fact that prosecutors charged just because he helped to develop software which could have dangerous implications for all software developers according to him .
OFAC Listing
The latest news comes roughly a year after the U.S Treasury Department added Tornado Cash-related addresses to its list of Specially Designated Nationals of The Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). Subsequently, authorities in Netherlands arrested another Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev who was released from jail in April 2023 after spending nearly nine months in prison .
Roman Semenov Added In OFAC
Another co-founder Roman Semenov was added in OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons on Aug 23 as well but has not been arrested yet .
Summary
In summary , Roman Storm , one of the co-founders for cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash , was charged with money laundering and other alleged violations by US DOJ and then released on bail soon afterwards while another co-founder Roman Semenov is listed under OFAC’s list but is not arrested yet .
