Lawyers for the co-founder of Tornado Cash asked the court to drop the charges against their client. Federal prosecutors responded by saying that the attempt to limit Roman Semenov's alleged role in maintaining the cryptomixer service solely to code development was untrue.
The prosecutor's office believes that Semenov not only knew that the crypto service was used to launder illegal proceeds from hacker attacks, but also received personal benefits from the service:
“According to the prosecutor’s office, Tornado Cash was created as a commercial enterprise for the purpose of generating profit or financial gain, and Semenov himself received income through control over key components of the service.”
At the end of March, lawyers for another co-founder of the cryptomixer Tornado Cash, Roman Storm, filed a motion in the New York District Court to dismiss the charges against the businessman for facilitating the laundering of funds amounting to more than $1 billion. The lawyers said. that their client could not be in collusion with money laundering criminal groups, since he did not control the cryptocurrency mixer. The defense believes that Torrnado Cash cannot be considered a business because the platform did not charge a commission for its services.
Source: Bits
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