Judge Pushes Jury in Tornado Cash Trial After Deadlock

- Jury deadlocked in Roman Storm’s trial after four days of deliberation. - Judge issues “Allen charge” to encourage a unanimous verdict. After four days of deliberations, the jury in the trial of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm failed to reach a unanimous verdict. In response to the deadlock, Judge Katherine Polk Failla issued an "Allen charge," a judicial instruction that encourages jurors to reassess their positions and work toward a unanimous decision. According to reports from AInvest, Cointelegraph, and Binance on August 6, 2025, this development occurred after the jury declared an impasse. The prosecution accused Storm of conspiring to launder over $1 billion in illicit funds through Tornado Cash, an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency mixer. The alleged illicit funds included financial transactions linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking organization, and prosecutors claim Storm actively promoted the service to criminals while ignoring warnings about its potential misuse. Conversely, Storm's defense argues that as an open-source code developer, he cannot be held liable for how end-users utilized the decentralized tool. His legal team opposed the Allen charge, proposing instead that the court accept a partial verdict because the jury struggled to reach a consensus. However, Judge Failla sided with the prosecution's request for a complete verdict, emphasizing the importance of fully resolving the case. The trial's outcome has broader implications for the crypto and decentralized finance industries, as it could set a precedent for the legal liabilities of software developers who create open-source code. If convicted on all charges, Storm faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. As of 17:09 UTC on August 6, Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $3,641.10, with a 1.677% increase in 24-hour trading volume.