By Michael Scott
The developer behind Tornado Cashm, Alexey Pertsev, is set to spend more time in jail following the court’s directive in the Wednesday session.
Pertsev has been battling money laundering charges in the Netherlands since August 2022. His arrest is attributed to the sanctions imposed by the US against the crypto anonymizing platform.
Tornado Cash Developer Denied Bail
A bench of Dutch judges unanimously agreed during the February 15 hearing that freeing the Russian web developer on bail would provide an opportunity to conceal evidence or flee the country.
Pertsev denied the alleged misconduct in the Wednesday hearing at the East Brabant Court. The bench issued a production order during the subsequent hearing scheduled for late April.
The arrest of Pertsev in August came days after the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) banned the anonymizing tool from conducting crypto transactions. The agency from the US Treasury Department alleged that Pertsev’s anonymizing tool facilitated the funding of North Korean hackers.
Customary to the Dutch criminal justice system utilized during pre-trial detention, the allegations would remain unknown. However, in the initial November hearing, the prosecutors would unveil the charges against Persev.
The November 2022 hearing allowed the Dutch prosecutor Martine Boerlage to seize the moment to reveal that Pertsev and his compatriots operated Tornado similarly to a business. Beyond publishing the code, the Tornado developers would rival bank clerks when accepting loads of suspicious cash without due diligence on their sources.
Pro-crypto Advocates Protesting Pertsev Arrest
The arrest of Pertsev by the Dutch authorities drew protests from the country’s crypto community led by Edward Snowden. Also, the privacy and pro-crypto advocates expressed their disappointment against the OFAC sanctions.
In his address outside the East Brabant Court, Pertsev’s attorney Keith Cheng lauded the Wednesday hearing as educative for the court on the decentralized finance (DeFi) mechanism.
Arrest Fueled by Authorities’ Inadequate Knowledge of DeFi
Cheng indicated that the session offered an opportunity to demonstrate the Tornado Cash basis and counter money laundering claims. The lawyer suggested that the inadequacy of knowledge on DeFi led the authorities to confide Persev in jail.
Expressing his disappointment that Pertsev lost the bail motion, Cheng portrayed optimism in fighting to shake off the allegations. He indicated that the Pertsev trial would serve as a platform to showcase the essence of decentralized options and open-source code.