Roman Storm’s defense team raised the possibility of a mistrial on July 21 during his trial, as an FBI agent was unable to confirm that stolen assets from the prosecution’s first witness had passed through Tornado Cash.
Journalist Matthew Russell Lee provided real-time updates on the trial, noting that Storm’s lawyer mentioned they would discuss the option of moving for a mistrial before the jury could deliberate in the alternate jury room.
Journalist David Z. Morris shared a video explaining that the FBI agent assigned to track the funds from the first witness, Katie Lin, could not trace the funds to Tornado Cash.
During the trial, Lin had testified that she lost her life savings to a pig-butchering scheme and believed the proceeds had been laundered through the crypto mixer co-founded by Storm. However, Storm’s defense attorney, Brian Patton, argued that Lin’s testimony may be deemed inadmissible if prosecutors cannot prove that Tornado Cash was involved in handling her coins.
Patton raised concerns before US District Judge Katherine Polk Failla that presenting emotional testimony without concrete evidence of the transactions through Tornado Cash could prejudice the jury, potentially leading to a mistrial.
Prosecutors mentioned that a second tracing expert would address the transfers later in the trial, but did not specify whether the expert would testify in person or submit a written analysis.
The controversy escalated when MetaMask security lead Taylor Monahan conducted independent research, revealing that the $250,000 sent to a fraudulent trading site did not pass through Tornado Cash or Coinbase. Instead, the scammer had converted Bitcoin to Ethereum using an instant-exchange service and transferred the ETH across self-controlled wallets.
Monahan shared Dune Analytics queries and federal asset-seizure filings indicating that a third-party “crypto recovery” firm had mistakenly identified Tornado Cash in 2022 when assisting Lin.
Judge Failla permitted Patton to discuss the potential mistrial with Storm, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to retry Storm on charges related to sanctions violations and money laundering linked to Tornado Cash’s alleged involvement in illicit fund flows.
The trial’s outcome now depends on whether the upcoming expert witness can establish a Tornado Cash connection that the FBI analyst could not verify.
As the proceedings continue, it remains to be seen how this development will impact the case against Roman Storm and the implications for Tornado Cash’s reputation in the cryptocurrency space.