The developer of the notorious Tornado Cash, the virtual cryptomixer, Alexey Pertsev, is accused of laundering more than $1.2 billion. However, the prosecutors do not provide any specific arguments. According to the prosecutor’s office, Pertsev “had a habit of engaging in money laundering.” Now he needs to answer for his habit. DL News writes about this with reference to a law enforcement document.
Accusations Against Tornado Cash Developer: Lack of Evidence
Prosecutors allege that Pertsev was an accomplice in money laundering through Tornado Cash. In the document, prosecutors listed at least 36 potentially illegal transactions sent to the mixer.
One such transfer is 175 Ethereum (ETH), allegedly obtained from the Ronin Bridge hack. In 2022, he was attacked and $625 million was stolen, and the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group was blamed for it all. This conclusion was reached by analysts from Chainalysis and the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). On March 26, Pertsev will appear in a Dutch court. He faces charges of money laundering and other financial crimes. However, the developer denies all this.
In addition, according to the lawyer of Pertsev, prosecutors do not provide any concrete evidence in support of their arguments. “Prosecutors suspect Pertsev of money laundering and describe it in general terms, but do not specify what specific actions he took to take part in a criminal crime,” he noted.
The crypto community supports Tornado developer
Alexey Pertsev was arrested in 2022, a few days after US authorities imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash. The developer was detained for nine months and is now under house arrest in the Netherlands. His colleagues, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, are also accused of money laundering. Storm was also put under house arrest, but in Washington. His trial is scheduled for September this year.
Previously, the developers of Tornado Cash founded a fund called JusticeDAO and raised more than $350 thousand for legal proceedings. Among the donors were Edward Snowden and representatives of the Coinbase crypto exchange. From the very beginning, the trading platform has been in favor of lifting sanctions against the mixer.
Tornado cryptomixer continues to operate despite sanctions
According to analysts, more than $800 million in cryptocurrency was laundered through Tornado Cash in 2023. The service took first place among cryptomixers, despite the fact that it has been banned for many years. Experts also recently published a report in which they stated that the Lazarus Group has returned to using Tornado. On March 13, experts recorded activity at the addresses of the hacker group for the first time in a long time. The attackers transferred funds stolen during the hack of the HTX crypto exchange to the cryptomixer.
