DOJ Uses Bitcoin Fog Ruling to Fight Roman Storm's Acquittal Bid

Federal prosecutors told a New York judge on Monday that a Sept. 25 appeals court ruling in another crypto mixer case should help defeat Roman Storm's bid to overturn his conviction.

The filing is the latest round in a fight about venue, which is the legal term for the court where a case is heard. Storm, a developer of the Tornado Cash mixer, filed a post-trial acquittal motion in September 2025 arguing that prosecutors never proved he intended to help criminals misuse the service. Prosecutors filed the Sterlingov ruling as supplemental authority, meaning they want the judge to read it alongside their opposition to that motion.

If Storm wins, the conviction is set aside and one charge goes away. If he loses, the case moves toward a retrial on the counts the jury could not agree on.

The D.C. Circuit Upheld the Bitcoin Fog Convictions

Roman Sterlingov ran Bitcoin Fog. He was sentenced in November 2024 to 150 months in prison, more than 12 years, plus a forfeiture money judgment of $395,563,025.39 and forfeiture of roughly 1,345 bitcoin.

On Sept. 25, the D.C. Circuit affirmed his convictions and sentence. On venue, the appeals court held Washington, D.C., was proper for all four counts. For the money-laundering counts, it relied on an undercover agent who conducted Bitcoin Fog transactions from his D.C. office. For the unlicensed money-transmission counts, it found enough evidence that Bitcoin Fog had served customers in the district.

The two services are not the same business, and the Sterlingov ruling does not mention Storm or Tornado Cash. Prosecutors are offering it as a reasoning tool for the venue question in front of Judge Katherine Polk Failla.

The Manhattan Apartment at the Center of the Venue Fight

Prosecutors anchor their New York venue argument on testimony from Shakeeb Ahmed, who said he used Tornado Cash from his Manhattan apartment.

Storm argued in his 2025 acquittal motion that this is not enough to establish venue in New York, because the transactions did not further the alleged conspiracy.

Prosecutors answered that even short-lived deposits help a mixer, by enlarging the pool of transactions used to obscure where funds came from and where they went. They say that reasoning applies to Ahmed's Tornado Cash activity, and supports their position that his use of the service furthered the alleged conspiracy.

Storm's Other Argument: Treasury's Mixer Rule

Storm also cited the Treasury Department's announcement that day that it would withdraw its proposed crypto-mixer rule. He argues the government is taking conflicting approaches to crypto privacy tools.

What the Ruling Would Change

A jury convicted Storm in August 2025 of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, the one count that now carries his conviction. It deadlocked on the money-laundering and sanctions-conspiracy charges.

Failla heard arguments on the acquittal motion in April 2026 and has not ruled. A retrial on the two deadlocked counts is scheduled for April 26, 2027, but only if those charges remain pending. Failla's ruling decides that.