According to DL News, Dutch prosecutors have charged Alexey Pertsev, the developer of the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash, claiming that he is a co-perpetrator of money laundering using the protocol, having laundered over 1.2 billion US dollars of illicit funds.
Prosecution documents obtained by DL News show that Pertsev is accused of “habitually engaging in money laundering activities.” The prosecutor listed 36 suspected illegal transactions involving Tornado Cash and several decentralized protocols, with the largest transaction involving over 175 ETH (worth approximately $570,000), allegedly originating from the Ronin cross-chain bridge.
Decentralized protocols such as Harmony and Nomad also appear on the list of Dutch prosecutors. US officials accused Tornado Cash of being used to launder millions of dollars from the Harmony and Nomad hacking cases when they imposed sanctions on the mixer in August 2022.
In August 2022, Alexey Pertsev was arrested by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) of the Netherlands and charged with facilitating money laundering activities through Tornado Cash, allegedly participating in concealing the flow of criminal funds. After nearly 9 months in custody, Pertsev was released and still denies violating anti-money laundering laws. He is scheduled to stand trial in the Netherlands on March 26.
Keith Cheng, Pertsev’s lawyer, stated in an interview with DL News that Roman Storm and Roman Semonov, also developers of Tornado Cash, were charged in August 2023. Storm is currently awaiting trial in the United States, scheduled for September.
The Pertsev case has had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency industry. Developers and the open-source community are concerned that participating in potentially suspicious projects may lead to legal repercussions by US authorities and result in a “chilling effect.” Many individuals in the crypto community see the case against Pertsev as a legal threat to coding itself. Supporters, including Coinbase, Ethereum developer Preston Van Loon, and the Blockchain Association in Washington, have come forward to defend Pertsev. They have submitted legal documents in the US arguing that software development should not be equated with money laundering or similar crimes. Dutch prosecutors agree with this argument and have hinted that it may be a key element in their case.
Image source: [source]
