An October 5 filing draws a parallel between the two mixer cases. It is a prosecution argument, not a new ruling on Storm’s pending request for acquittal.
US prosecutors have invoked the Bitcoin Fog appeals ruling to reinforce their opposition to Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s request for acquittal. Their October 5 letter to Judge Katherine Polk Failla argues that two charges have a sufficient connection to be tried in the Southern District of New York.
The three-page prosecution filing cites a September 25 decision involving Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov. Sterlingov and Storm are defendants in separate cases involving different crypto mixing services. The ruling against Sterlingov does not itself resolve Storm’s case.
Why the New York connection matters
The dispute concerns venue: the geographic district in which charges may be tried. Prosecutors point to Shakeeb Ahmed’s testimony that he accessed Tornado Cash from his Manhattan apartment. According to the letter, his deposit remained in the pools for roughly two days.
Storm’s objection is that those transactions did not materially advance the alleged conspiracy. The government argues that even brief deposits and withdrawals can enlarge a mixer’s transaction pool and help conceal fund movements. The question therefore extends beyond a user’s location to the alleged contribution of that activity.
In the Bitcoin Fog appeals decision, the D.C. Circuit upheld venue based on transactions conducted in Washington and service provided to customers there. It also affirmed Sterlingov’s convictions and 150-month prison sentence. Prosecutors want the reasoning considered in Storm’s money-laundering and unlicensed money-transmission conspiracy counts.
A filing is not a ruling. Citing another case does not mean Storm’s acquittal request has been rejected. The letter presents a legal argument for the judge to consider.
The acquittal request remains unresolved
According to Cointelegraph’s October 7 report, Failla heard arguments on the acquittal motion in April 2026 and has not yet ruled. In August 2025, a jury convicted Storm of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business but could not reach a verdict on the money-laundering and sanctions-conspiracy charges.
A retrial on those two unresolved charges is scheduled for April 26, 2027, if they remain pending. That timetable is conditional; the outstanding acquittal motion still matters to how the case proceeds.
Storm criticized the prosecution in an X post sharing the October 5 filing, which he updated on October 6:
“The DOJ is still coming after me with everything it has.”
Storm also pointed to FinCEN’s withdrawal of its mixer reporting proposal. Withdrawing a proposed reporting rule and deciding an individual criminal case are separate processes.
That statement reflects Storm’s position.
