Dutch Court Sentenced Tornado Cash Developer Alexey Pertsev to 64 Months in Prison.

Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has been convicted of money laundering by a Dutch judge at s-Hertogenbosch court on Tuesday. Pertsev has been sentenced to 64 months in prison.

Following the session, the 31-year-old Russian was escorted by police to the court's holding cells, where he will remain until the public prosecutor determines an appropriate prison in the Netherlands for his crimes.

According to the translated verdict seen by CoinDesk, "Tornado Cash does not impede individuals with criminal assets who wish to launder them."

As a result, the court has found the defendant guilty of the money laundering charges.

Pertsev has the option to appeal his sentence, which commences today. 

It does not appear that the time he spent in custody between his arrest in August 2022 and Tuesday's verdict will be deducted from his prison term.

An indictment presented prior to the trial stated that between July 9, 2019, and August 10, 2022, Pertsev habitually engaged in money laundering and should have had suspicions about the illicit origins of transactions on the Tornado Cash platform.

The developer was initially detained in the Netherlands in August 2022 after Tornado Cash was added to the U.S. government's blacklist. 

At the time, the U.S. Treasury alleged that Tornado Cash was a crucial tool for the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking group. 

The Lazarus Group has been connected to a $625 million hack of Axie Infinity's Ronin Network and other significant cryptocurrency thefts.

The outcome of this trial may have implications for future trials involving other Tornado Cash developers. 

Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, who are also developers of the crypto mixer, face allegations of money laundering and sanctions violations in the U.S. Storm's trial is scheduled for September, while Semenov has yet to be arrested. 

Storm was detained last year after Tornado Cash was once again added to the U.S. sanctions watchlist.

However, in the United States, Storm is not accused of being directly responsible for laundering $1.2 billion due to differences in how U.S. and Dutch laws address personal liability in cases of this nature.