Federal prosecutors told a Manhattan federal judge on Monday that a D.C. Circuit ruling upholding Bitcoin Fog founder Roman Sterlingov's conviction and 150-month prison sentence supports trying Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm in New York, according to a letter filed in the Southern District of New York.

What does the Sterlingov ruling say about venue?

The letter, addressed to Judge Katherine Polk Failla, cites the D.C. Circuit's September 25 decision affirming Sterlingov's conviction on money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting charges. That court found venue proper in Washington based largely on a sting in which a special agent deposited roughly $250 of Bitcoin into Bitcoin Fog from D.C. and withdrew nearly all of it the next day.

Prosecutors argue the same logic applies to Storm. Their letter focuses on Shakeeb Ahmed, a Tornado Cash user who testified he accessed the service from his Manhattan apartment.

Storm's lawyers argued Ahmed's funds sat in Tornado Cash pools too briefly to advance any conspiracy. The filing counters that Ahmed's deposit remained "a couple days," comparable to the agent's transaction in the Bitcoin Fog case.

How does Storm's team respond?

At an April hearing, defense attorney Brian Klein argued that Ahmed used Tornado Cash before committing his underlying crime and "didn't actually use Tornado Cash for his hack."

On the unlicensed money transmitting count, prosecutors note that the D.C. Circuit found venue proper because Bitcoin Fog had "served customers in the District." They contend Ahmed's testimony shows Tornado Cash did the same in Manhattan.

A Manhattan jury convicted Storm in August 2025 on one count of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. The jury deadlocked on money laundering conspiracy and sanctions charges.

Storm's motion for acquittal, which challenges venue among other grounds, was argued in April and remains pending before Failla.

What did FinCEN do this week?

Storm contrasted the venue letter with a Treasury Department notice issued the same day. FinCEN formally withdrew a 2023 proposal that would have required financial institutions to report transactions involving international crypto mixing.

The agency cited commenter concerns that its broad definition of mixing "could have a chilling effect on legitimate activity."

The FinCEN notice also states that illicit actors continue to use mixers and that the agency will keep monitoring them.

Storm seized on the apparent contradiction, quoting prosecutor Ben Arad's April argument to Failla that once Tornado Cash was largely serving criminals, "even the legitimate transactions that went through Tornado Cash became illegitimate." Failla pushed back: "I'm concerned if that's your theory."

What comes next?

Storm published the venue letter on X on Tuesday, writing: "The DOJ is still coming after me with everything it has. They really want to see me convicted." He noted that 1,139 days had passed since his arrest, which occurred when his daughter was three years old.

His retrial on the two deadlocked counts is scheduled for April 26, 2027, after prosecutors had pushed for a start this month. Alexey Pertsev, a Tornado Cash developer who worked alongside Storm, was convicted of money laundering in the Netherlands in 2024 and remains on electronic monitoring pending appeal.

Failla's ruling on the venue challenge will determine whether the retrial proceeds in Manhattan or faces transfer to another district.