Tornado Cash Developer Challenges Chainalysis Data Alleging Criminal Links
"Lawyers for the privacy protocol developer facing money laundering charges in the Netherlands have disputed the evidence purporting to prove links to criminal money."
- "Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev will be allowed to cross-question blockchain analytics company Chainalysis as he seeks to clear his name of money laundering charges, a Dutch court ruled on Wednesday."
- Explanations by Dutch financial crime enforcers FIOD had proved technically unsatisfactory, such as its citing of the existence of “user agents” that don’t exist on the Ethereum blockchain, Pertsev’s lawyer Keith Cheng told CoinDesk.
- "Pertsev, who in April was freed to await trial from his home near Amsterdam, has denied charges of money laundering. But, with a further hearing set for September, his case now looks set to drag on into 2024."
In related news, a lawsuit from a group of engineers and investors in response to sanctions placed on the Tornado Cash protocol comes closer to having its day in U.S. court in Austin.
- “The Department's action violates the First Amendment's free speech clause as it prohibits Plaintiffs and thousands of other law-abiding American citizens from interacting with open-source code to engage in a wide range of speech protected by the First Amendment," the filing states.
- The plaintiffs argue that the evidence Tornado Cash is a tool for money laundering is “weak,” noting that the Treasury has only given “three examples of money laundering have been found from millions of transactions.”
CoinDesk Article (Pertsev) / Archive
CoinDesk Article (U.S. Court) / Archive
