Alexey Pertsev, developer of Tornado Cash, appeals the Dutch court’s verdict against him – DiarioBitcoin

With the measure, Pertsev and his team seek to appeal the judge’s verdict and the sentence handed down days ago. For now, he will have to wait to see if the court accepts the measure and schedules a hearing.

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• Alexey Pertsev appeals guilty verdict by Dutch court
• Days ago, he was found guilty of capital laundering crimes
• He was sentenced to five years and four months in prison.
• For now, the Court of Appeals is evaluating his case and waiting for a response

Alexey Pertsev, who was the main developer of Tornado Cash, He filed an appeal against his conviction by the Dutch court.

Pertsev appeals court ruling

Having been found guilty on money laundering charges two days ago, Pertsev and his legal team managed to file an appeal with the s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal. According to the media The Blockthe motion has already been received but we have to wait to see if it is approved.

Let’s keep in mind that Pertsev was found guilty this week of money laundering crimes. The judge in charge of the case determined that between July 9, 2019 and August 10, 2022, the defendant carried out clear capital laundering operations through Tornado Cash, showing that the funds used in said transactions may have had links to criminal operations.

After concluding that Pertsev made personal use of the platform and that the latter provided services to criminals to eliminate the history of the funds used, the judge sentenced him to five years and four months in prison. He added that the penalty also considers that the platform served to launder some USD $1.2 billion from illicit activities.

Pertsev introduced the appeal measure, and although he may have to wait several months for the respective hearing to arrive, he has the possibility of waiting under a measure of house arrest.

As expected, a large number of enthusiasts and members of the crypto ecosystem spoke out in favor of Pertsev, alleging that the measure implemented by the court was completely unfair, penalizing the development of software to guarantee the privacy of cryptocurrency operations.

Tornado Cash in the spotlight

Pertsev’s appeal comes into place in the midst of the situation he is going through Tornado Cash, becoming the focus of complaints and accusations by international regulators.

Just yesterday, a report published by Reuters referred to information contained in reports of the United Nations, which indicated that North Korean hackers operated through Tornado Cash to launder some USD $147.5 million stolen from the exchange HTX (Huobi) in 2023.

Beyond this, it has been precisely the US Department of the Treasury the one who has acted most forcefully against Tornado Cashthis by including their addresses on its blacklist of sanctioned entities, thereby prohibiting North American entities and residents from sending and/or receiving cryptocurrencies from them.

Returning to Tornado Cash, while Pertsev’s fate is being defined with this appeal, the other main developer, Roman Storm, continues to fight a legal battle in the US after pleading not guilty to the charges against him and asking for his ongoing case to be dismissed , although his trial is scheduled for September of this year.

Article by Angel Di Matteo / DailyBitcoin

Picture of Unsplash

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