Jay Clayton, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has filed a response opposing Roman Storm‘s motion for acquittal. In the Tuesday filing, Clayton argued that Storm’s conduct during his operation of Tornado Cash amounted to little more than “window dressing at best and outright misdirection at worst.” The filing also rejected Storm’s attempt to draw on a civil copyright case as part of his defense strategy.
Storm’s legal team had previously signaled their intention to cite a 2026 Supreme Court case, Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, to argue that Storm lacked the intent to participate in the crimes he is accused of. Those charges include conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate sanctions. Clayton countered that Storm’s conduct “bears no resemblance” to the conduct examined in the Cox case, which centered on civil liability for copyright infringement rather than criminal financial activity.
The US Attorney further stated that there was no evidence Storm had implemented effective anti-money-laundering measures within Tornado Cash. “In any event, a civil copyright case has no relevance here in the first place,” Clayton wrote in the filing. Prosecutors and defense attorneys are scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss the case’s next steps.
Last August, a jury convicted Storm of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, but deadlocked on the two remaining charges of money laundering conspiracy and sanctions violations conspiracy. That deadlock opened the possibility of a retrial on those counts. The case has attracted significant attention across the cryptocurrency industry, raising broader questions about how software developers may be held legally accountable for code they write.
The case has also unfolded against a shifting backdrop within the Justice Department. Last week, President Donald Trump dismissed Attorney General Pam Bondi and appointed Deputy AG Todd Blanche as acting head of the department pending a Senate confirmation vote on a permanent replacement. Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal attorney, authored an April 2025 memo calling for an end to what he described as “regulation by prosecution.”
In that memo, Blanche stated that the department would “not pursue actions against the platforms that criminal enterprises utilize to conduct their illegal activities,” and called for the closure of cases inconsistent with that position. Although Storm was not named directly, he cited the memo in a March post on X after prosecutors moved to retry him on the two deadlocked counts. Storm wrote that the charges carried a potential sentence of up to 40 years in federal prison “for writing open-source code” for a protocol he said he did not control and transactions he said he never touched.
Clayton has asked a federal judge to schedule a retrial for October, though as of Tuesday no date had been confirmed. It remains unclear how Blanche’s new role will shape Justice Department policy going forward, or how long he will serve as acting attorney general. The outcome of the scheduling discussions on Thursday may offer further clarity on the timeline for Storm’s case.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
