Tornado cash developer Alexei Peretsev was found guilty of money laundering by the Dutch court in Hertogenbos. The court sentenced Pertsev to 64 months of imprisonment.
After the announcement of the sentence, Pertsev was immediately taken to the pre-trial detention center at the trial. There he will be kept before transferring to the appropriate prison in the Netherlands.
Pertsev can appeal the verdict that entered into force from the moment of the announcement. The time spent in custody since August 2022, apparently, will not be counted on the punishment.
The indictment presented before the trial, it is said that from July 9, 2019 to August 10, 2022 Pertov “systematically engaged in money laundering” and was supposed to at least suspect the criminal origin of illegal transactions on the Tornado Cash platform.
The developer was first arrested in the Netherlands in August 2022 after the cryptomyxer was blacklisted with the US government. At that time, the US Department of Finance claimed that this service was a key tool for the North Korean hacker group Lazarus, related to the prediction of $625 million from the Ronin network Axie Infinity and other large thefts of cryptocurrencies.
The outcome of the case can affect future trials over other creators of Tornado Cash. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov are also accused of laundering money and violation of sanctions in the United States. Storm will appear before the trial in September, and Semenov has not yet been detained.