Roman Storm, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash who was arrested on money-laundering and other charges on Aug. 23, was released on bail soon after he was detained by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), his lawyer said.
Storm’s lawyer, Brian Klein, took to X (formerly Twitter) on Aug. 24 to announce that Storm had been released on bail.
Klein noted that he still remains “very disappointed” about the fact that the prosecutors charged the developer just because he helped to develop software. He added:
“Their novel legal theory has dangerous implications for all software developers.”
The bail came the next day after the U.S. DOJ announced the arrest of Storm alongside the charges against Tornado Cash founders Storm and Roman Semenov on Aug. 23.
The U.S. authority specifically charged the developers with operating the Tornado Cash services and allegedly laundering more than $1 billion in “criminal proceeds.” Additional charges are related to “conspiracy to commit sanctions violations” and “conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.”
Storm’s lawyer, Klein, did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
The latest news comes roughly a year after the U.S. Treasury Department added Tornado Cash-related addresses to the list of Specially Designated Nationals of the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). Subsequently, authorities in the Netherlands arrested another Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev. The developer was released from jail in April 2023 after spending nearly nine months in prison.
Pertsev and Storm are not the only prosecuted developers related to Tornado Cash, though. Another co-founder, Roman Semenov, was added in the OFAC’s list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons on Aug. 23 as well. The developer still has not been arrested.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.