Roman Storm Released on Bail After Developing Web 3.0 App Tornado Cash

Tornado Cash Co-Founder Released on Bail

Roman Storm, co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash, was arrested on money-laundering and other charges on Aug. 23. However, his lawyer Brian Klein soon announced on X (formerly Twitter) that Storm had been released on bail.

Klein expressed disappointment that Storm was charged simply for developing software. He stated:

The arrest and charges against Storm and fellow Tornado Cash founder Roman Semenov were announced by the U.S. Department of Justice on Aug. 23, and Storm was granted bail the following day.

Tornado Cash Developers Prosecuted

The U.S. authority has charged the developers of Tornado Cash with operating the services and laundering more than $1 billion in “criminal proceeds,” as well as “conspiracy to commit sanctions violations” and “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.”

When contacted by Cointelegraph, Storm’s lawyer, Klein, did not immediately respond. This news comes about a year after the U.S. Treasury Department added Tornado Cash-related addresses to the list of Specially Designated Nationals of the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC).

Alexey Pertsev, another co-founder of Tornado Cash, was arrested in the Netherlands and was released in April 2023 after spending nearly nine months in jail. Roman Semenov, another co-founder, was added in the OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons on Aug. 23, but has not yet been arrested.