Tornado Cash: DOJ Seeks Oct 2026 Retrial of Roman Storm

U.S. prosecutors in the Southern District of New York rejected Roman Storm’s dismissal arguments in the Tornado Cash case and are pushing for a retrial as early as October 2026. In a letter to Judge Katherine Failla, the DOJ said Storm’s reliance on a Supreme Court precedent (Cox Communications v. Sony Music) does not fit Tornado Cash’s facts. Prosecutors also argued Storm’s AML controls were ineffective and that any “half-measures” were easy to bypass. The filing adds important context for traders: OFAC sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 for allegedly failing to impose effective controls, but that sanctions basis was later overturned in March 2025 after an appeals court ruled OFAC exceeded its authority over immutable, decentralized smart contracts. Procedurally, Storm was detained and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. A jury convicted him on one count in August but deadlocked on two counts. The DOJ is requesting a new trial date window of Oct 5–12, 2026, while a Rule 29 motion hearing is scheduled for April 9. A ruling on that motion could determine whether those deadlocked Tornado Cash-related counts are retried. Trading takeaway: renewed Tornado Cash legal uncertainty can raise compliance and enforcement risk premia for privacy- and mixing-adjacent flows, even as parts of the earlier OFAC sanctions ruling were partially overturned.