Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseb Qureshi revealed that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will not take criminal prosecution against the Crypto company, because the federal process of Tornado Cash Cash Cash Storm in Manhattan approached its conclusion.
Qureshi, whose investment firm supported various blockchain startups, wrote on social media that federal public prosecutor Nathan Rehn told the court on July 28 that neither Dragonfly nor its clients were the target of the department’s investigation.
He called the public clarification “unprecedented” and “a clear violation of the DOJ policy”, referring to the usual practice of the Ministry of Justice to keep target information confidential. The development comes days after Qureshi has publicly denounced the Doj about focusing on the company for supporting Tornado -Contant Money in 2020 as part of the Storm process.
Storm, which was co -founder of Tornado Cash in 2019 as an Open -Source Protocol to anonymize cryptocurrency transactions, is responsible for money laundering and the violation of American sanctions against the Lazarus group of North Korea.
The trial, which started on July 14 in the American court in Manhattan, has heard testimony of blockchain -tracing experts and former Tornado cash users. Close arguments are expected later this week.
Tornado Cash was added to the sanction list of the American Treasury Department in August 2022, which the first time a software protocol was confronted with such an action. Public Prosecutors claim that Storm personally approved transactions for illegal actors, while defense lawyers claim that the code of the protocol, not the maker of the protocol, must be assessed.
Dragonfly invested in Tornado in 2020 in Tornado Content Money After obtaining an external legal opinion that the mixer meets the American Anti -Money -Laguning Guidelines issued by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen).
The outcome of the Storm case could reform how Open -Source developers are held responsible for user activity. If it is convicted, Storm is confronted with a maximum of 45 years in prison, a punishment that critics warn, innovation in privacy -strengthening tools can cool down.
Qureshi wrote:
“With that behind us, the focus should remain on the Roman Storm process, which is now approaching after this week. The outcome will have enormous implications for open-source software and privacy rights in America.”
