Tornado Cash founders charged with money laundering

• DOJ has arrested Storm and is looking out for Semenov.
• Twister Money was utilized in a number of crypto heists final 12 months.
• OFAC had sanctioned Twister Money in August of 2022.

Co-founders of Twister Money – a completely decentralised crypto mixer primarily based out of Russia – have been charged with cash laundering, as per an indictment unsealed immediately.

Twister Money laundered cash for the Lazarus Group

Roman Semenov and Roman Storm allegedly laundered over $1.0 billion in whole, of which, a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} they did for a sanctioned North Korean hacking unit – the Lazarus Group.

The U.S. Division of Justice arrested Storm on Wednesday and is looking out for Semenov. In line with James Smith – an Assistant Director of the FBI:

We’re treating this like some other fugitive now. We’re working with legislation enforcement, inside and outside of our company, attempting to find and arrest this particular person.

Alexey Pertsev – the third co-founder of Twister Money was not included within the aforementioned joint motion. He does face trial within the Netherlands, although.

Twister Money was utilized in a number of crypto heists final 12 months

Observe that OFAC – the Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management had sanctioned Twister Money final 12 months in August.

On Wednesday, the monetary intelligence and enforcement company additionally sanctioned Semenov in addition to the eight Ethereum addresses allegedly beneath his management. Damian Williams – the U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of New York stated immediately:

Whereas publicly claiming to supply a technically subtle privateness service, Storm and Semenov knew they have been serving to hackers and fraudster conceal the fruits of their crimes.

In line with Elliptic – a blockchain analytics firm, the $100 million {that a} U.S. startup Harmony misplaced to theft in June have been laundered through Twister Money.