A Dutch court has convicted Alexey Pertsev, a developer behind the crypto tool Tornado Cash, of money laundering. He was accused of enabling criminals, including hackers with links to North Korea, to launder $1.2 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. Pertsev was sentenced to five years and four months in prison, as requested by prosecutors.
The court stated that Tornado Cash facilitated criminal activities and terrorism financing. Tools like Tornado Cash, known as crypto mixers, aim to conceal the origins and destinations of users’ coins, but are often used for money laundering.
Tornado Cash was sanctioned in the US for facilitating anonymous transactions, leading to Pertsev’s arrest in the Netherlands. The prosecutors alleged that over 30 percent of the funds passing through Tornado Cash were related to money laundering, accusing Pertsev of turning a blind eye to criminal activities.
Pertsev argued that Tornado Cash operates on the Ethereum blockchain, making it beyond anyone’s control. However, prosecutors claimed that the developers still had de facto control through the web interface. Despite efforts to separate legitimate users from criminal ones, it was deemed insufficient.
The arrest of Pertsev triggered protests from cryptocurrency and privacy advocates, who believe holding a developer responsible for user behavior sets a dangerous precedent for privacy-focused software.
