U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla has postponed Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm's retrial to April 26, 2027, moving it from the originally scheduled October 2026 timeline. According to the court order dated August 25, 2026, Storm's defense specifically requested that the retrial not be scheduled earlier than April 2027, citing scheduling conflicts. The motion, filed on September 30, 2025, challenges his 2025 conviction for conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, arguing prosecutors presented insufficient evidence. As reported by multiple sources, prosecutors opposed the continuance, preferring to move forward on the earlier October timeline, but Judge Failla sided with the defense, resetting the entire pretrial calendar accordingly. Storm's lawyers requested at least 90 days after the acquittal ruling for preparation, delaying the retrial originally sought by prosecutors for October.
Judge Failla has excluded time under the Speedy Trial Act through April 26, 2027, citing that the ends of justice would be served by this extension. The Speedy Trial Act is a federal law requiring the government to bring a criminal defendant to trial within a specified period rather than allowing cases to remain pending indefinitely. The order states that excluding this time would outweigh the interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy retrial. This legal maneuver allows the court to balance the constitutional right to a speedy trial against the practical realities of preparing for a complex retrial on serious criminal charges.
The court has amended the pretrial schedule with specific deadlines leading up to the April 2027 retrial. Government expert disclosures are due on February 5, 2027, followed by defense disclosures on March 5, 2027. Daubert motions and motions in limine are due March 30, 2027, with a final pretrial conference scheduled for April 20, 2027. The updated schedule provides adequate time for both sides to prepare their cases while maintaining the court's commitment to expeditious proceedings. This structured approach ensures that all necessary pretrial activities are completed before the retrial begins in April 2027.
Storm faces two remaining charges - conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions - each carrying a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. As reported by crypto.news, the first jury deadlocked on both charges after convicting Storm on one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charge on which Storm was convicted carries a maximum sentence of five years, while the unresolved counts could potentially expose him to 40 years in federal prison if convicted during the retrial. If Judge Failla grants the Rule 29 motion for acquittal, it could overturn Storm's existing conviction on the money transmitting charge. If she denies it, the defense still gets the benefit of time to prepare for the retrial on the money laundering and sanctions counts.
Storm was originally charged in August 2023 alongside Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Semenov for allegedly helping operate a service that processed more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds, including funds connected to North Korea's Lazarus Group. As reported by crypto.news, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 but removed the sanctions on March 21, 2025, after the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that immutable smart contracts could not be treated as property under sanctions law. The government's case focuses on whether Storm and his co-founders continued developing the protocol despite knowing criminals used it. Tornado Cash is a smart contract protocol on Ethereum that allows users to pool and withdraw funds in a way that breaks the on-chain link between sender and receiver.
Storm's legal defense has raised more than $6.3 million with support from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, the Ethereum Foundation, and other donors. According to reports, the Ethereum Foundation pledged up to $1 million in matching support following the 2025 verdict. Buterin has called for sentencing leniency, arguing that privacy software can serve lawful purposes while open-source development should not establish criminal liability. The delay keeps attention on how U.S. courts are handling criminal liability questions around crypto developers and privacy tools, with the case potentially establishing legal precedent for the broader cryptocurrency industry.
