DOJ seeks October retrial for Tornado Cash dev Roman Storm

US Attorney Jay Clayton, the former chairman of the SEC and head of the Southern District of New York, has requested a re-trial of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and evade sanctions.

The requested date for the re-trial is October 5-12, 2026.

Clayton filed a two-page letter confirming his prosecution is willing to bring Count 1 and Count 3 of the original indictment back before a new jury.

Count 1 was a conspiracy to commit money laundering. Here, the US government alleged Storm knowingly helped criminals conceal over $1 billion in stolen crypto through Tornado Cash, including hundreds of millions from a Ronin hack involving North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

Although not up for jury re-trial, Count 2 involves a conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. A Manhattan jury convicted Storm in August 2025 on Count 2. 

However, Storm filed a post-trial motion under Criminal Rule 29 which is due for a court to rule sometime soon, even as early as April 9, 2026. Storm hopes to gain acquittal on Count 2 on a legal technicality.

A Rule 29 motion asks a judge to declare that trial evidence was legally insufficient. Legal sufficiency of evidence is a constitutional minimum for sustaining a conviction.

The test for legal sufficiency is whether a rational trier of fact found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Rule 29 acquittals are rare but possible.

Also up for re-trial, Count 3 involved a conspiracy to violate sanctions. Specifically, prosecutors claimed Storm kept operating Tornado Cash after the US Treasury sanctioned the protocol in August 2022.

Read more: What does Roman Storm’s guilty verdict mean for the wider DeFi sector?

After five days of deliberation, jurors deadlocked on the money laundering and sanctions counts. As a result, the case was a partial mistrial.

Storm’s attorney Brian Klein said after the first trial that he expected “full vindication.” The defense has continued to fight on First Amendment, venue, and sufficiency of evidence grounds.

Storm remains free on a $2 million bail. April and October will be critical months for him this year.

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