Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev claims he will be released from prison on Feb. 7 after a Dutch Court canceled his pretrial detention in exchange for electronic monitoring.
In a post on X, Pertsev declared that he will be released from prison on Feb. 7 at at 9 am UTC or 10 am local time, following a recent court ruling which would allow him to undergo electronic monitoring instead of pretrial detention.
The Tornado Cash developer has been serving detention in the Netherlands since August 2022 due to the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanction towards the platform over money laundering and illicit finance allegations.
Pertsev and his lawyers are currently working on his appeal after being charged with money laundering in May 2024.
Although he admits it is “not real freedom,” Pertsev is grateful for the ruling as it gives him an opportunity to work on his appeal.
“This will give me a chance to work on my appeal and fight for justice. Thank you to everyone who supported me and who made this possible!” said Pertsev.
The Tornado Cash (TORN) developer was found guilty of money laundering charges by a Dutch court. He was sentenced to five years and four months in prison, to which his lawyers immediately filed an appeal to the ruling.
Pertsev has been denied bail three times. Once in July 2024 and also in November 2023, when the court denied the developer’s plea to be released under surveillance after the prosecution viewed Pertsev as a “flight risk.”
During the trial, Pertsev’s lawyers argued that developers should not be held liable for building smart contract protocols accessible to anyone, a stand that crypto industry stakeholders have long echoed.
However, the court countered the argument, saying Pertsev and the other Tornado Cash co-founders failed to implement strict measures to prevent the platform from being misused by criminal entities such as North Korean cybercrime group, Lazarus.
In August 2023, Tornado Cash and its co-founders were indicted on conspiracy and illegal money-transferring charges by the U.S. court. Authorities accused co-founders Roman Storm and Roman Semenov of helping launder over $1 billion in illicit funds.
