The post Prosecutors demand $3.1m in luxury houses and Tesla from Tornado Cash defendant appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

US prosecutors have settled on a new demand for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm. They claim that they traced properties amounting to $3.1m bought with proceeds from illegal Tornado Cash operations. According to real estate websites Zillow and Redfin, one of the properties in Auburn was last sold in 2023 for $1.8 million. The other, overlooking Lake Tapps, was last sold in 2021 for $1.3 million, hence the demanded amount. According to the prosecutors, Tornado Cash knowingly enabled large-scale money laundering. However, the defendant’s advocates argue that Storm’s actions are protected under free speech laws.  US prosecutors want to claim Storm’s properties Tornado Cash gained popularity as a tool for concealing crypto transactions, which criminals have also exploited for money laundering. In 2022, the U.S. imposed sanctions against the service, citing its use by hackers affiliated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group.  Last year, Storm was hit with three charges, including committing money laundering, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and violating US sanctions. The US Prosecutors stated, “Claiming to offer the Tornado Cash service as a ‘privacy’ service, the defendant, in fact, knew that it was a haven for criminals to engage in large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.”  Photo of Roman Storm. Source: X Storm’s advocates have argued that creating Tornado Cash is protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees free speech. However, in September, Judge Katherine Failla of the Southern District of New York argued that “When a programmer is using a code to direct a computer to perform various functions, that code is not protected speech” In the Netherlands, where the free speech rights are from those of the US, a Dutch court rejected another developer, Pertsev’s argument that he was not legally bound to monitor or block illegal financial transactions on Tornado Cash. …

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Filed under: News - @ November 19, 2024 1:25 pm