Federal prosecutors are leveraging a recent appellate court ruling in the Bitcoin Fog case to bolster their venue arguments in the ongoing Tornado Cash case against Roman Storm. In a letter filed October 5, 2026, with Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York, prosecutors pointed to a September 25 D.C. Circuit decision that upheld the conviction of Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov.
Prosecutors argue that the D.C. Circuit’s reasoning for establishing venue in Washington for Sterlingov’s case applies to Storm’s trial in Manhattan. The core of this argument rests on the accessibility of the services to users within the respective districts. The D.C. Circuit found venue proper in the Bitcoin Fog case based significantly on a sting operation where a special agent deposited Bitcoin into the mixer from Washington D.C. and withdrew most of it the next day, according to the opinion. Prosecutors contend that testimony from Shakeeb Ahmed, a Tornado Cash user who stated he accessed the service from his apartment in Manhattan, similarly establishes venue for Storm’s case.
Roman Storm was convicted in August 2025 by a Manhattan jury of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. However, the jury deadlocked on charges of money laundering and sanctions violations. Storm’s legal team has challenged the venue, among other grounds, in a motion for acquittal that was argued in April and remains undecided. The prosecution’s letter aims to counter this venue challenge by presenting the Bitcoin Fog ruling as persuasive precedent.
According to the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in the Bitcoin Fog case, venue was proper because the service “served customers in the District.” Prosecutors argue that Ahmed’s testimony shows Tornado Cash also served customers in Manhattan. Storm’s lawyers, however, have contested this. Storm’s attorney Brian Klein argued that Ahmed used Tornado Cash before committing his alleged crime and “didn’t actually use Tornado Cash for his hack.” At an April hearing, prosecutor Ben Arad countered that once Tornado Cash began serving criminals, even legitimate transactions passing through it became illegitimate—a theory Judge Failla expressed concern about.
The letter also addresses the money laundering conspiracy and money transmitting counts. The Constitution requires that a crime be tried where at least part of it took place. The prosecution’s strategy is to draw a direct parallel between the Bitcoin Fog and Tornado Cash cases, asserting that the appellate court’s affirmation of venue in the former case directly supports their position in the latter.
In related developments, FinCEN announced on the same Monday, October 5, 2026, that it was withdrawing a 2023 proposal that would have required financial institutions to report transactions involving international crypto mixing. FinCEN cited concerns that the proposal’s broad definition of mixing could have a “chilling effect on legitimate activity,” though the agency stated it would continue to monitor mixers used by illicit actors.
Alexey Pertsev, another figure associated with crypto mixers, was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands in 2024 and is currently out on electronic monitoring pending appeal. Roman Storm’s retrial on the deadlocked counts is scheduled for April 26, 2027.
Roman Storm himself commented on the prosecution’s filing via social media, stating, “The DOJ is still coming after me with everything it has. They really want to see me convicted.” He also noted that it had been 1,139 days since his arrest, when his daughter was three years old.
Why This Matters
The materials describe a narrow update: Federal prosecutors filed a letter with Judge Katherine Polk Failla in the Southern District of New York, citing a D. Whether Roman Storm’s motion for acquittal will be granted.
Broader Context
Source materials place the factual news in this context: Tornado Cash and Bitcoin Fog are coin mixers, software that pools users’ crypto to break the on-chain link between where funds come from and where they go.
