Founders of Crypto Mixer Tornado Cash Accused of Laundering $1 Billion

The founders of the cryptocurrency mixing work Tornado Cash were charged Thursday with allegedly helping to launder much than $1 cardinal successful integer currency, including funds taken by North Korean hackers.

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Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were indicted federally connected charges of conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to interruption sanctions laws, and cognition of an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Storm was arrested successful Washington, and Semenov remains astatine large.

Prosecutors allege that Storm and Semenov intentionally designed Tornado Cash to fto cyber criminals anonymize transfers of funds connected the blockchain. The strategy was utilized to launder much than $1 cardinal successful integer currency, violating U.S. sanctions, the indictment says.

Earlier this spring, Tornado Cash is believed to person aided successful laundering portion of the $600 cardinal stolen by hackers sponsored by North Korea successful a March onslaught connected the Ronin Network, an Ethereum sidechain. Although the institution had already enactment sanctions screening successful place, Storm and Semenov reportedly utilized deceptive compliance practices to support processing illicit transactions, prosecutors said.

“As alleged, Tornado Cash was an infamous cryptocurrency mixer that laundered much than $1 cardinal successful transgression proceeds and violated U.S. sanctions,” Damian Williams, the U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York said successful a statement. “Roman Storm and Roman Semenov allegedly operated Tornado Cash and knowingly facilitated this wealth laundering.”

These charges travel amid a nationalist cryptocurrency crackdown by the Department of Justice aimed astatine those facilitating cybercrime and evading sanctions. This enactment follows past year’s imprisonment of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev by Dutch officials.

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