OFAC’s Dropped Sanctions Against Tornado Cash Can’t Come Up at Trial, Judge Says
Judge Katherine Polk Failla ruled that evidence related to the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s (OFAC) sanctions against Tornado Cash will be largely excluded from the upcoming trial of developer Roman Storm. The judge cited concerns about jury confusion, deeming the complexities of the sanctions’ imposition and subsequent removal too challenging for jurors to grasp. While initially open to allowing testimony on the sanctions, Failla ultimately granted Storm’s motion to exclude it, except for potentially a crucial piece of evidence (“unicorn document”) for the prosecution. Prosecutors have until Wednesday to submit this potential evidence.
The Van Loon v. Treasury Department case, which led to the sanctions being dropped, is also barred from discussion. However, other motions in limine filed by Storm were denied. This includes motions to exclude references to North Korea’s Lazarus Group and what the prosecution considers “inflammatory characterizations” of Storm’s TORN token sales.
Prosecutors intend to present evidence of Storm’s alleged profits from his Tornado Cash involvement, including multiple home purchases and the sale of $12 million in TORN tokens post-sanctions. They will not argue that Storm violated the Bank Secrecy Act. Instead, they plan to use expert testimony to highlight that Storm could have, but chose not to, implement anti-money laundering protocols.
Evidence from the phone of Storm’s fellow developer, Alexey Pertsev, will be admissible. Despite Storm’s defense arguing the report from Pertsev’s phone was cherry-picked and unauthentic, Judge Failla ruled it admissible. All expert witnesses will testify, subject to certain limitations. Storm may testify, but he will not be allowed to use First Amendment arguments in his defense. He can discuss his beliefs in privacy, but First Amendment claims are barred.
The final pre-trial conference is scheduled for Friday, with the trial set to begin June 14th and last four weeks.
