Federal prosecutors have dismissed the defense’s attempt to use a recent Supreme Court ruling to have criminal charges against the Tornado Cash co-founder dropped.
U.S. federal prosecutors responded on April 8, 2026 to the defense of Roman Storm, co-founder of the mixing service Tornado Cash, rejecting the attempt to use a recent Supreme Court ruling to obtain the dismissal of criminal charges against him. In a letter filed on Tuesday, prosecutors described the ruling cited by Storm’s attorneys as “inapplicable” to the case at hand.
Storm’s defense had brought to the attention of Judge Katherine Polk Failla the Supreme Court ruling concerning internet provider Cox, issued in March. In that case, the Court had determined that Cox should not be held liable for the unlawful conduct of its users in a music copyright infringement lawsuit. Storm’s attorneys argued that the decision could have direct implications for his case.
Prosecutors, however, highlighted the substantial differences between the two matters. While the Supreme Court had acknowledged that Cox had actively discouraged copyright infringement through a mechanism described as “robust and effective at 98%”, Storm and Tornado Cash had allegedly not adopted significant measures to prevent illicit activity on the platform. According to prosecutors, Storm “actively lied in response to victims’ requests, telling them he had little control over the protocol, while in reality he and his co-conspirators implemented over 250 changes to Tornado Cash’s infrastructure during the period in question”.
Prosecutors added that Storm and his associates “explicitly discussed – but declined to implement – viable measures to curb criminal activity on the platform”. The filing concludes that “the defendant’s response to the criminal use of his platform was, at best, a façade and, at worst, an outright cover-up”. Storm is accused of having facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion through the service.
In August, a jury convicted him on one count of unlicensed money transmission, while failing to reach a verdict on the remaining counts related to money laundering and sanctions evasion. Last month, prosecutors formally requested a retrial on the two unresolved counts, proposing that the retrial begin in October 2026.
