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NEW YORK, New York — The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) sanctions against privateness instrumentality Tornado Cash cannot beryllium discussed astatine the upcoming proceedings of developer Roman Storm, a national justice ruled Tuesday.
At a presumption league successful Manhattan connected Tuesday, District Judge Katherine Polk Failla initially waffled connected whether she would let adept witnesses to attest astir the sanctions, which were initially imposed successful August 2022, removed this March and subsequently recovered amerciable by a Texas court.
After proceeding arguments from some the prosecution and the defense, Failla decided to assistance Storm’s question successful limine moving to prohibit grounds astir the sanctions entirely, arguing that it would simply beryllium excessively confusing for a assemblage to bash what she described arsenic the “mental gymnastics” of knowing wherefore the sanctions were imposed and yet removed.
“I americium going to preclude references to the August 2022 OFAC sanctions,” Failla said, with the caveat that she was leaving unfastened the anticipation of a “unicorn document” — a cardinal portion of grounds for the prosecution that hinged connected Storm’s alleged behaviour aft the sanctions were imposed — that could alteration her caput earlier the proceedings begins. Failla gave prosecutors until Wednesday to taxable immoderate specified portion of evidence. The justice had ruled earlier Tuesday that the parties would not beryllium allowed to sermon the Van Loon v. Treasury Department lawsuit which yet led to the sanctions being dropped.
The remainder of Storm’s motions successful limine (a benignant of pretrial question to exclude definite grounds oregon arguments from being allowed during trial) were denied, including a question to preclude references to North Korea’s authorities sanctioned hacking group, the Lazarus Group, and a question to preclude “inflammatory characterizations" of Storm’s TORN sales. Earlier successful the day, prosecutors said they planned to present grounds demonstrating that Storm profited handsomely from his engagement successful Tornado Cash, including allegedly purchasing aggregate homes and selling $12 cardinal worthy of TORN tokens aft OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash.
Prosecutors said they bash not program to reason astatine proceedings that Storm violated the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by not implementing a know-your-customer/anti-money laundering protocol for Tornado Cash, lone to explicit done their adept witnesser grounds that helium could person and chose not to.
Failla besides ruled to let the authorities to nutrient grounds from Storm’s chap Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev’s phone. The Dutch authorities allowed a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cause to presumption a study of the contents of Pertsev’s phone, from which the cause made his ain study with selected pieces of information. Storm’s defence attempted to get the Pertsev telephone grounds tossed out, arguing that the study was cherry-picked and intolerable to authenticate, but the justice sided with the prosecution, ruling that the study was admissible.
After overmuch backmost and distant betwixt the parties implicit their respective adept witnesses, Failla ruled that each of the witnesses could testify, though she enactment immoderate guardrails connected definite witnesses for some sides.
It is not yet wide whether Storm volition attest successful his ain defense, though Failla said Tuesday that, should helium instrumentality the stand, helium volition not beryllium permitted to reason that helium had First Amendment protections successful his enactment with Tornado Cash.
Failla said that Storm was escaped to sermon his content successful privateness rights, but said: “I don’t deliberation escaped code oregon First Amendment rights should travel up astatine this trial.”
A last pre-trial league volition beryllium held telephonically astatine 3 p.m. ET connected Friday. Storm’s proceedings is slated to statesman June 14 and is expected to tally for 4 weeks.
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