Federal prosecutors are using a recent appeals court decision involving the Bitcoin Fog cryptocurrency mixer to reinforce their case against Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, according to Cointelegraph. The filing could complicate Storm’s effort to overturn his conviction and may affect how prosecutors establish the proper location, or venue, for parts of the case.
The US Department of Justice told a federal court that activity involving Tornado Cash in Manhattan was enough to establish venue in New York for Storm’s money-laundering and unlicensed money-transmission conspiracy charges. The argument relies on a Sept. 25 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concerning Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla heard arguments on Storm’s request for acquittal in April 2026, but has not yet issued a decision. If the unresolved charges remain active, a retrial on the money-laundering and sanctions-conspiracy counts is scheduled for April 26, 2027.
Why the Bitcoin Fog decision matters
In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit upheld Sterlingov’s convictions and sentence. The court concluded that Washington, D.C., was the proper venue for all four counts against him.
For the money-laundering charges, the appeals court pointed to evidence that an undercover agent carried out Bitcoin Fog transactions from an office in the US capital. For the unlicensed money-transmission charges, the court found sufficient evidence that the mixer had served customers in the district.
Prosecutors say that reasoning supports their position in Storm’s case. They argue that Tornado Cash activity carried out in Manhattan can establish venue in the Southern District of New York, even though Storm is accused of conduct involving a service that operated online.
The venue issue is important because a criminal case generally must be tried in a judicial district connected to the alleged conduct. The government’s latest filing is intended to show that the Manhattan-based activity provided a sufficient connection for at least parts of its case.
The dispute over Tornado Cash use
Prosecutors referred to testimony from Shakeeb Ahmed, who said he used Tornado Cash from his Manhattan apartment. They argue that this use furthered the alleged conspiracy because even deposits that remain in a mixer only briefly can add to the pool of transactions used to obscure the movement of funds.
That pool is central to how cryptocurrency mixers work. A mixer combines transactions from multiple users in an effort to make it more difficult to connect incoming funds with later outgoing transfers. The government’s position is that activity by a user can support the operation of the service by increasing the number of transactions available for mixing.
Storm’s September 2025 acquittal motion disputes that conclusion. He argued that Ahmed’s use of Tornado Cash from Manhattan was not enough to establish New York venue because the transactions did not further the conspiracy alleged by prosecutors. He has also argued that the government failed to prove he intended to help criminals misuse Tornado Cash.
Storm was convicted in August 2025 of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The jury did not reach a unanimous verdict on the money-laundering and sanctions-conspiracy charges, leaving those counts unresolved rather than resulting in convictions.
What happens next
The judge’s ruling on Storm’s post-trial acquittal motion will determine whether the conviction can stand and whether the unresolved counts continue toward a possible retrial. The scheduled retrial date is April 26, 2027, provided those charges remain pending.
Storm criticized the government’s latest filing in a post on X on Monday, writing: “The DOJ is still coming after me with everything it has.” He also pointed to a Monday announcement from the US Treasury Department that it would withdraw its proposed rule concerning crypto mixers. Storm said the withdrawal reflected an inconsistent government approach to privacy-focused cryptocurrency tools.
The case places Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, at the center of an ongoing dispute over how existing criminal and financial rules apply to privacy tools. The latest filing does not resolve Storm’s acquittal request, but it gives prosecutors a recent appeals court decision to support their venue arguments.
Current crypto market picture
Moneyiar market data at 10:14 a.m. on Oct. 7, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $83,798.55, down 2.69% over 24 hours but up 0.11% over seven days.
Other tracked assets were also lower over the previous day:
- Celestia (TIA): $0.4524, down 3.78% in 24 hours and up 1.42% over seven days.
- Pharos (PROS): $0.6521, down 8.31% in 24 hours and down 2.63% over seven days.
- Oasis (ROSE): $0.007790, down 6.50% in 24 hours and down 14.80% over seven days.
These market figures are Moneyiar data, recorded at the times specified above, and are separate from the legal developments in the Storm case.
