Dutch Judge Puts Tornado Cash Developer In Jail For Additional 90 Days
The developer of Ethereum-based crypto mixer Tornado Cash, Alexey Pertsev’s arrest by Dutch authorities for allegedly facilitating money laundering via the now-sanctioned Tornado Cash, resulted in a serious rage among crypto community members a few days back.
However, the recent developments in the case have intensified the backlash. At a hearing that took place in the Netherlands on Wednesday, the judge rejected Pertsev’s lawyers’ requests for the defendant to be released on bail and decided that he should be detained for an extra three months.
Initially brought before an examining judge on August 12, Amsterdam-based Pertsev was given a two-week initial custody term.
Pertsev’s attorneys requested that he be granted bail during a closed-door hearing held Wednesday in Den Bosch, the Netherlands. The judge denied that request and set a 90-day time limit for the initial public hearing, which means that the initial public hearing must be finished within three months. Pertsev is still not formally facing any criminal charges.
As BitcoinWisdom reported, the Dutch authorities arrested the 29-year-old developer on August 10, just two days after the United States Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the cryptocurrency mixing platform, which it had linked to more than $1 billion in devious transactions and North Korean hackers.
The arrest was not received well by crypto enthusiasts who call out several useful cases of usage of Tornado Cash which is very efficient in making transactions private. However, the situation seems to continue worsen for the Ethereum mixer.
The FIOD, a Dutch authority responsible for overseeing crimes related finances, revealed that the initial investigation began in the June before the US had imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash and it seems that the situation has only escalated since then.
“He is suspected of involvement in concealment of criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering through the mixing of cryptocurrencies through the decentralized Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash,”
the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service said in a statement
The Chief Executive Officer of the leading crypto exchange Kraken, Josse Powell, recently questioned the fact if the sanctions against the Ethereum mixer will stand in a court of low or if it is constitutional to do. It seems that the crypto community is not happy with the decision taken by regulatory authorities.
Recently, Coin Center said that it will sue the authorities for the sanctions that they have imposed on Tornado Cash calling it an unconstitutional step. The non-profit firm said that the sanctions potentially violate “constitutional rights to due process and free speech, and that OFAC has not adequately acted to mitigate the foreseeable impact its action would have on innocent Americans.”
A crypto journalist with over 3 years of experience in DeFi, NFT, metaverse, etc. Parth has worked with major media outlets in the crypto and finance world and has gained experience and expertise in crypto culture after surviving bear and bull markets over the years.
