Prosecutors Reject Storm's Bid to Dismiss Tornado Cash Charges

Federal prosecutors in New York have rejected Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm's latest bid to dismiss remaining charges against him, arguing that a recent Supreme Court ruling on internet service provider liability does not apply to his case involving cryptocurrency privacy software.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a three-page letter on Tuesday with U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla, countering Storm's motion for acquittal. Storm's attorneys had cited the Supreme Court's March 25 unanimous decision in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, a civil copyright infringement case, to argue that developers cannot be held criminally liable for user misconduct without direct intent. In that ruling, the court held that Cox, an internet provider, was not responsible for customers' illegal music streaming because the company had policies to discourage such activity and served many lawful purposes.

Prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, dismissed the comparison as irrelevant. "The defendants conduct simply is not comparable to the conduct at issue in Cox," they wrote. "In any event, a civil copyright case has no...