| After Roman Storm Trial DOJ Says Code Is Not a Crime Still DragonFly SDNY Unsealing Pends by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 22 – Roman Storm was charged using his cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash to help launder money for North Korea's hackers in the Lazarus Group. On September 6, 2023 he was arraigned before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Katherine Polk Failla. Inner City Press was there - thread The US on July 9, 2025 filed opposition - just as in the Samouri Wallet case a letter from Senator Lummis and Wyden that cites theTornado Cash case, letter now on Patreon, with Samouri story, here. After the trial, and conviction on the money transmitter count, on August 21 DOJ's Matthew Galeotti said, "Our view is that merely writing code, without ill intent, is not a crime... The department should not leave innovators guessing as to what could lead to criminal prosecution." Meanwhile the US v. Storm prosecutors continue to insist that what they said in open court about crypto investing firm DragonFly should be sealed - leaving them and others guessing. On July 11 Inner City Press live tweeted a conference in which the US said Witness-1 only began speaking to them on July 3 and is seeking sentence reduction under Rule 35. Judge Failla will let Witness-1 testifying, but expressed doubts on venue. Thread. On July 14 Inner City Press live tweeted jury selection. Crypto Tornado book 1 here The prosecutors spoke about Dragonfly - then asked to seal it. Inner City Press moved to unseal, and Judge Failla asked them and the defense to respond by August 19. On August 5 the jurors returned with this: no unanimity on Counts 1 and 3, guilty on Count 2, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmittal business. The AUSA then asked that Storm be remanded to jail as a flight right. Thread. Judge Failla denied that. On August 19 Storm through counsel wrote in saying he does not oppose Inner City Press' motion to unseal. And the prosecutors? We hope to be able to report on this soon, particularly now after DOJ Galeotti's statement - for now, on August 21, Shakeeb Ahmed who was transported from jail in West Virginia to testify against Storm had his sentence ended as "time served"... More on X for Subscribers here and Substack here The case is USA v. Storm, et al., 1:23-cr-430 (Failla) *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.  Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com |
