Tornado Cash Developers Storm, Pertsev Raise Over $350K for Legal Defense With Support From Snowden
Tornado Cash developers Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev have received over $350K in legal defense funds, with public backing from former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Storm and Roman Semenov are accused of money laundering and sanctions violations in the U.S. Storm, a dual U.S. and Russian citizen, was arrested and is under house arrest in Washington State, awaiting trial in 2024. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. Semenov, another developer and co-founder, was also charged but remains at large. The Department of Justice alleges that over $1 billion in crypto was moved through their mixing service, which aims to conceal wallet addresses and provide anonymity for transactions. Pertsev has been in jail in The Netherlands since 2023. Snowden has urged people to donate to their legal defense, stating that "Privacy is not a crime."
