Tornado Cash, a crypto tumbler, is facing charges of money laundering and sanctions violations by its founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov. The U.S. Attorney Damien Williams stated that the developers were aware of the illicit profits of at least $1 billion that were laundered through their technology. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash last year due to its links to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.Developer Alexey Pertsev was arrested by Dutch police last year and later released on home arrest after nine months. The U.S. Attorney Damien Williams stated that the developers were aware of the illicit profits of at least $1 billion that were laundered through their technology. He added that while publicly claiming to offer a technically sophisticated privacy service, Storm and Semenov in fact knew that they were helping hackers and fraudsters conceal the fruits of their crimes.The indictment signals prosecution for actors who knowingly violate U.S. laws by laundering money through cryptocurrencies, according to Attorney Williams. The U.S. is continuing its crackdown on crypto businesses and decentralized financial tools, with the founders of OFAC-sanctioned crypto Tornado Cash facing charges over $1 billion in illicit wealth allegedly laundered through the crypto tumbler.

Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries	🇺🇸 🇳🇱
Sentiment	negative
Relevance Score	10
People	Roman Storm, Roman Semenov, Damien Williams, Alexey Pertsev, None
Companies	Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), Treasury Department, U.S. Attorney, Dutch police, Lazarus Group
Currencies	Ethereum, Bitcoin, USD, North Korea Won, OFAC
Securities	None