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Crime

Tornado Cash Founders Charged With Laundering More Than $1 Billion (cnbc.com) 36

Two founders of Tornado Cash, the widely known Russian cryptocurrency mixer, have been charged with laundering more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds. From a report: In a newly unsealed indictment, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov have both been accused of sanctions violations and laundering money through Tornado Cash, including hundreds of millions of dollars for the Lazarus Group, a sanctioned North Korean state-backed hacking group. Charges in the indictment include conspiring to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. Storm was arrested Wednesday in Washington state, according to a statement from the Justice Department, but Semenov, a Russian national, remains at large. The third co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, who is not mentioned in this action, faces trial in Amsterdam over his involvement with Tornado Cash. "Roman Storm and Roman Semenov allegedly operated Tornado Cash and knowingly facilitated this money laundering," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, adding, "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." Further reading: Tornado Cash Co-founder Reports Being Kicked Off GitHub as Industry Reacts To Sanctions (2022);
Coinbase Employees and Ethereum Backers Sue US Treasury Over Tornado Cash Sanctions (2022).
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Tornado Cash Founders Charged With Laundering More Than $1 Billion

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  • An absolutely legitimate, honorable business, for sure.

  • How can it be money laundering if the items in question are just assets not money? It seems little different than letting people trade magic the gathering trading cards. ;-)
    • Easy litmus test.

      If it benefits you in any way. It's not money.

      If it benefits them in any way, it is obviously money.

      Easy peasy. Fits all scenarios cleanly.

      You want to make a security to track bitcoin, It's not money.
      You get a bunch of it and don't pay taxes, It's definitely money.
      You have some and it gets taken, It's not money.
      You have some and the bank you placed it in loses it. Not money.
      Bank accidentally puts a bunch in your account via error, Definitely money.
      Bank goes bust and you lose your ass, Not m

    • How can it be money laundering if the items in question are just assets not money?

      I'm not sure you understand what money laundering actually is...

      • by drnb ( 2434720 )

        How can it be money laundering if the items in question are just assets not money?

        I'm not sure you understand what money laundering actually is...

        I'm not sure you know what humor is. Try reading the second sentence: "It seems little different than letting people trade magic the gathering trading cards. ;-)"

  • No shit Sherlock /s
  • One of the few last people that care about financial freedom and privacy get tagged as "criminals" and money launderers. This is like taken froma a dystopian sci fi book
  • by BigFire ( 13822 ) on Wednesday August 23, 2023 @06:32PM (#63792192)

    That number seem small when you compare to Roblox and the amount of gambling and money laundry happening there.

"Sometimes insanity is the only alternative" -- button at a Science Fiction convention.

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