Tornado Cash Developer Alexey Pertsev Sentenced to 64 Months in Prison in the Netherlands
Dutch court found Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to 64 months in prison. Pertsev's legal team has 14 days to appeal the decision.
- A Dutch court convicted 31-year-old Alexey Pertsev of laundering $2.3 billion in cryptocurrency through the Tornado Cash mixer.
- Dutch prosecutors have alleged that Pertsev designed Tornado Cash to be the ideal money laundering tool through the use of "smart contracts." Conversely, Pertsev's defenders argued that these same attributes made Tornado Cash such an effective privacy tool.
- The judges rejected Pertsev's argument that it was wrong to hold him accountable for Tornado Cash's users, who are, by design, anonymous and independent.
"Tornado Cash in its nature and functioning is a tool intended for criminals. The criminal user is fully facilitated," a judge reportedly said from the bench.
- “Under the pretense of ideology, you did not care about the laws and regulations that apply to everyone and felt untouchable,” he added.
- Tornado Cash's co-founder, Roman Storm, is facing similar charges in the United States. His trial is scheduled to take place in September.
- Despite the prosecution of the protocol developers, Tornado Cash continues to function independently and processes privacy transactions to this day, reports Wired.
Case Documents (In Dutch)
DLNews Article / Archive
CoinDesk Article / Archive
The Block Article / Archive
