A motion had been filed to dismiss the criminal charges against the developer of Tornado Cash, Roman Semenov.
However, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) countered the motion, which highlights the alleged strength of its case.
The submission
Roman Semenov as well as Roman Storm has been accused of operating the crypto mixing service as a platform for helping cybercriminals launder over $1 billion, including those linked to North Korea.
The government made a recent submission to the Southern District of New York in which it countered the motion to dismiss the charges against the developer.
According to the document, Tornado Cash had engaged in extensive laundering activities between September 2020 and August 2022.
It said that the mixing service had used the anonymity offered by blockchain technology to obfuscate the origin of illicit funds.
A series of illicit acts have been highlighted in the charges against Semenov that had allegedly been carried out through the Tornado Cash platform, which was advertised as a legit crypto mixing service.
Prosecutors claim that users had concealed the origins of their Ethereum by blending potentially ‘tainted’ or identifiable funds with others, thereby making the transactions untraceable.
The allegations
The filing said that the defendant could not get the indictment dismissed by asserting his view of the operation of Tornado Cash.
Prosecutors have asserted that Tornado Cash had not been a neutral technological service but had had an active part in unlawful transactions.
They maintain the Storm, Semenov, and their colleagues had been aware of the illegal nature of the processed funds.
In addition, they had not implemented compliance measures on the platform, such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) protocols.
The government has also insisted that it has substantial evidence to support its claims and it would present them in court later.
The government
The prosecutors have also emphasized that the crypto found in the residence of the defendant can also be considered direct evidence of their offenses.
This was in reference to the sale and transfer of a substantial amount of TORN holdings after the mixer had been sanctioned by OFAC.
The government claimed that the defendant had urged his co-conspirators to create new wallets, use new seed phrases, and transfer their funds to new addresses for concealing the proceeds from the sale.
According to the government, the evidence will show that most of the Tornado Cash transactions had gone through the UI in the time period specified.
In the Daubert hearings, the validity of the strong evidence had been initially examined and had faced scrutiny from third-party critics and defense experts.
As the legal proceedings continue, the entire crypto community is monitoring the developments closely because of the potential implications for legal and regulatory standards in blockchain analytics.
The outcomes of the court cases not just with Tornado Cash, but also with the founders of the Samourai wallet will likely shape the future of crypto cases and standards of evidence.
There has been a great deal of uncertainty in the industry, which has resulted in several legal battles that are still ongoing.