Dutch court extends detention of Tornado Cash developer

A Dutch court has kept Alexey Pertsev in custody until February 20, 2023, finding that the Tornado Cash mixer developer may flee justice. CoinDesk reports.

The programmer has been in custody since August. He was arrested in Amsterdam after the mixing service was placed on the sanctions list в санкционный список OFAC. The agency accused Tornado Cash of facilitating the laundering in 2019 of crypto worth more than $7 billion. More than $455 million of them are linked to the North Korea-based Lazarus Group.

In September extended his detention until November after the expiration of the previously set 90 days.

During the latest hearings, the prosecutor rejected Pertsev’s defense arguments that Tornado Cash was a decentralized protocol, which the programmer did not control.

A law enforcement spokesperson said the service was almost identical to PepperSec, where Pertsev worked together with other developers — Roman Semenov and Roman Storm.

Pertsev’s arrest sparked a resonance in the crypto community. In Amsterdam, a rally in defense of the developer took place, with prominent industry figures such as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson voicing support.

Questions about the legality of the Treasury’s sanctions against Tornado Cash were raised by both well-known industry participants and U.S. lawmakers.

The industry advocacy group Coin Center filed a lawsuit against the agency, deeming the measures against the service unconstitutional.

In November updated sanctions against Tornado Cash, citing the mixer’s role in financing North Korea’s nuclear program.

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