The U.S. Department of Justice is doubling down on its pursuit of Roman Storm, the co-founder of the privacy protocol Tornado Cash. Despite a split jury last year that failed to reach a unanimous verdict on two major counts, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have officially filed a request for a retrial, signaling that the legal battle over open-source developer liability is far from over.
Why is the DOJ pushing for a retrial now?
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton has requested that Judge Katherine Polk Failla schedule a retrial for Storm between October 5 and October 12, 2026. This move comes after a jury convicted Storm on a single count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business last August but deadlocked on more severe charges: conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions.
For the uninitiated, a hung jury is not an acquittal. Prosecutors are banking on a second attempt to secure a conviction that could carry a sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison. This aggressive stance persists even as the U.S. Treasury recently acknowledged that privacy tools and mixers serve legitimate functions for consumer data protection.
Is open-source code a crime?
The core of this case centers on whether a developer can be held criminally liable for the actions of users who interact with their software. Storm has maintained that he simply wrote open-source code for a protocol he did not control. As the industry watches, many are concerned that this precedent could stifle innovation, much like the regulatory hurdles currently impacting Ethereum network activity and broader DeFi adoption.
| Charge Type | Status | Potential Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Unlicensed Money Transmitting | Convicted | Varies |
| Money Laundering Conspiracy | Deadlocked | Up to 20 Years |
| Sanctions Violation Conspiracy | Deadlocked | Up to 20 Years |
Storm’s defense team is currently pushing back, arguing that the government’s case is built on a fundamental misunderstanding of blockchain forensics. Furthermore, Storm has pointed to a memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which claimed the DOJ is "not a digital assets regulator," yet the department continues to pursue a case that many argue is exactly that.