Tornado Cash co-founder and developer Alexey Pertsev has been denied bail by a Dutch court. Alongside, his request to access a computer to aid his lawyers prepare for his appeal was also denied.
The mixer's developer was sentenced to five years and four months in prison by a judge panel in the Netherlands on account of allegedly laundering funds.
A recent post by a handle associated with the JusticeDAO noted,
"Alexey will spend the next year in jail while his legal team prepares for the appeal hearing. This is a gross miscarriage of justice. Developers do not belong in jail for the actions of third parties."
According to prosecutors, the developer failed to stop organizations and protocols from using their crypto mixer to launder stolen funds.
Pertsev's lawyers, and the crypto community as a whole, continue to believe that anonymity and identity protection is a part and parcel of the fundamental blueprint of mixers. In retrospect, targeting the developer could prove to be detrimental over the long run.
On the other hand, the mixer's other co-founder, Roman Storm's request to push his impending trial was green lit by a judge in the US.
An extension was demanded on the grounds of complexity and the depth of discovery. Storm's lawyers contended,
"Additional time is needed because this case involves complex and novel legal and factual issues. The government has also produced voluminous discovery in this case on a rolling basis (millions of pages of documents, many of which are in Russian and require translation), which the defense is still analyzing and conferring with Mr. Storm about."
The hearing, first scheduled for September 23, has now been delayed to December 2.
Crypto community members have been supporting the co-founders. As reported by blocmates recently, Vitalik Buterin donated 30 ETH to the legal defense fund dedicated to the two Tornado Cash developers, with several others continuing to contribute on a daily basis.
