Crypto Court Fight Not Over As Prosecutors Seek Retrial For Roman Storm

The US Treasury told Congress this month that crypto mixers have legitimate uses — including protecting consumer privacy.

Clayton’s office is pushing for trial dates between October 5 and 12, with proceedings expected to run three weeks.

Prosecutors said they were ready to go as early as spring, but Storm’s defense team indicated they wouldn’t be available until late 2026.

A hung jury does not count as an acquittal, which leaves prosecutors free to try again. Storm has since asked Judge Polk Failla to throw out even the conviction, arguing the government never proved he meant to help bad actors launder money through the platform.

The stakes are severe. Storm posted on X that a conviction on both retried counts could send him to federal prison for up to 40 years.

He described his alleged offense bluntly: writing open-source code for a protocol he does not control, involving transactions he never personally handled.

She pointed to what she described as prosecutorial missteps during the first trial — irrelevant witnesses, a weak grasp of the blockchain forensics at the center of the case, and what she called flawed legal reasoning around third-party developer liability.

Storm also raised a pointed contradiction. In April, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memo stating the Justice Department “is not a digital assets regulator” and would stop pursuing cases that effectively impose regulatory frameworks on crypto.

Storm noted that the same DOJ is now seeking his retrial anyway.

Whether that acknowledgment will factor into Storm’s defense remains to be seen. His acquittal motion is scheduled for argument in early April, and a ruling is expected before any retrial date is set.

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