Dutch court allows Tornado Cash developer to question Chainalysis

The Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev will be able to question the analytics firm Chainalysis as part of the money-laundering case. The court in the Netherlands made the ruling, CoinDesk reports.

Lawyer Kit Cheng, in comments to the publication, said that his client has the opportunity to ask the firm directly, but in writing, about its methods. According to the lawyer, the explanations of the FIOD were unsatisfactory — they “referred to entities that do not exist on the Ethereum blockchain”.

On August 8, 2022 placed Tornado Cash on the sanctions list by OFAC for suspected laundering of more than $7 billion in cryptocurrency. The service was used, among others, by the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group.

Chainalysis estimates that, during Tornado Cash’s operation through it, more than $3.5 billion passed, of which up to $1.2 billion was directly linked to thefts, hacks and other illicit operations.

On August 12, Dutch authorities arrested Alexey Pertsev on suspicion of involvement in money laundering and concealing illicit financial flows. He denied all charges.

In April 2023 the court changed the measure of restraint for Pertsev to house arrest.