Russian developer Alexey Pertsev, who created the crypto privacy tool Tornado Cash, will remain in jail on money laundering charges, according to a panel of Dutch judges. The decision was made during a Wednesday hearing in the East Brabant Court, where judges agreed that releasing Pertsev on bail could lead to him fleeing or hiding evidence. His trial is set to continue in late April. Pertsev was arrested in August, shortly after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash, claiming it was used to fund North Korean hackers. He has denied the charges.
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Prosecutor Alleges Pertsev Ran Tornado Cash Like a Business
Dutch public prosecutor Martine Boerlage has alleged that Pertsev and his colleagues did not simply publish the code for Tornado Cash, but actually ran the tool like a business. Boerlage compared their actions to those of bank clerks accepting suspicious cash without question.
Pertsev’s arrest has drawn protests from the local crypto community and from privacy advocate Edward Snowden, while the OFAC sanctions have faced criticism from other crypto and privacy advocates.
Lawyer Says Lack of Knowledge is Keeping Pertsev in Jail
Pertsev’s lawyer Keith Cheng said that the hearing had been a good start in educating the court about decentralized finance. He added that the lack of knowledge about how Tornado Cash works was keeping his client in jail. Cheng also stated that Pertsev would continue to fight the charges and to show the importance of decentralized options, software, and open-source code.
