Lawyers filed a petition to the district judge Katherine Polk Failla. The evidence of Hanfeng Lin said that in 2021 she became a victim of fraud, having lost almost $ 250,000. Later she turned to the PayBack cryptocurrency service for help. According to the witness, PayBack provided a report according to which part of its funds was transferred to Tornado Cash.
Storm protection stated that the agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigations Joseph Decapua, who was supposed to study the relationship between Lin transaction with Tornado Cash, said at the cross interrogation that he was not asked to check these transactions. The accusation plans to involve the US Tax Service (IRS) Stephan George to investigate it to establish: whether the Lin funds are transmitted through Tornado Cash.
The lawyer of Storm David Patton believes that during the investigation, the relationship between stolen means and cryptomyxer was not confirmed. Protection insists on the termination of the trial due to procedural errors and improper provision of evidence. If the application is satisfied, the case can be terminated or revised by the new judge and jury.
The storm is accused of conspiracy in order to launder money through cryptocurrencies, violation of the US sanctions and conduct unlicensed cash transfer activities. The US Department of Justice claims that more than $ 1 billion was washed through Tornado Cash, including digital assets stolen by North Korean Lazarus hackers. The storm denies his guilt and claims that Tornado Cash is a decentralized protocol, the smart contracts of which work autonomously, and the developers do not control the transactions.
Last week, Storm announced a critical shortage of defense funds in court – to cover costs, he may need $ 1.5 million. Earlier, the developer said that if he loses in court, a decentralized finance sector (Defi) will come to an end.
Source: Bits
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