Roman Storm Jury Unable to Reach Verdict After Four Days of Deliberation
The Manhattan jury deliberating the fate of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm reported being deadlocked on Wednesday, unable to reach a unanimous verdict after four days of discussions.
Key points include:
- Storm's lawyers proposed accepting a partial verdict, while prosecutors requested an Allen charge to encourage continued deliberation.
- Judge Katherine Polk Failla instructed the jury to try for a consensus but affirmed their right to disagree if necessary.
- The jury has raised questions about procedural aspects, including the justification for the case’s venue in the Southern District of New York.
- They requested transcripts from FBI testimony regarding venture capitalist Tom Schmidt, who invested $900,000 in Tornado Cash’s parent company, to assess venue validity.
- Additional inquiries were made about Storm's obligations to respond to foreign law enforcement requests and the status of intermediary wallets on the OFAC's SDN list.
- Storm faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, and violate international sanctions, with a maximum potential sentence of 45 years.
- Prosecutors allege that Storm and colleagues facilitated the laundering of over $1 billion in criminal proceeds, including those linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group.