The founders of Tornado Cash, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, have been officially charged and arrested by the US government.
The charges include money laundering and sanctions violations, as revealed by the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York. The indictment also accuses the founders of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lazarus Group, a North Korean cybercrime organization under sanctions.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) had previously sanctioned Tornado Cash after allegations of funds laundering by the Lazarus Group.
US Attorney Damien Williams stated that Tornado Cash knowingly facilitated money laundering and assisted hackers and fraudsters in concealing the proceeds of their crimes. The severity of the crimes is not diminished by the use of digital assets for laundering.
Author: Ryan Scott
Just a guy
