Tornado Cash dev Alexey Pertsev is seeking additional funding for a legal appeal
The legal battle surrounding Tornado Cash developer Alexey Persev has reached a critical juncture as he seeks additional funding to continue his fight for privacy rights and freedom to publish code.
According to Percev and Roman Storm's support account, Percev, who was arrested two years ago and is embroiled in a high-profile legal battle, is now battling armed government forces for his extensive wealth.
The support bill highlighted the dire financial situation, stating that Percev had run out of money. “It's time to stand with Alexi and fight for what's right,” the account said, emphasizing its urgent need for between $750,000 and $1 million to cover ongoing legal costs.
Crypto community support
The crypto community has shown unwavering support for Perceive and its co-developer Tide, both of whom have been accused of money laundering, sanctions violations and unlicensed money transfer business through crypto mixing service Tornado Cash.
This support culminated in the creation of an advocacy group called JusticeDAO, which aims to raise funds for the developers' legal defense. On June 19, the team raised more than 654 Ether (ETH) to $2.3 million at the time in a fundraiser titled “Free Alexi and Roman” on the decentralized platform Juicebox.
Additionally, another 70 Ether was raised via the JustDAO page. Juicebox maintained its transparency by releasing a spreadsheet tracking the expenses of the “Free Alexi and Roman” fund, showing that $1.39 million was spent on legal fees between December 2023 and May 2024.
Perseverance's legal battle
Despite these great efforts, the financial demands of Perceive's legal battle are enormous. He is being held in jail after being denied bail and his lawyers are preparing to appeal the money laundering charges.
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Making Percev's situation even more complicated, he denied his request to access the computer to prepare for the appeal, underscoring the difficulties of raising an effective defense.
Persev was found guilty of money laundering by the Netherlands' Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal on May 14 and sentenced to five years and four months in prison. The court's ruling comes after Percev misappropriated $1.2 billion in Tornado cash.
The ruling follows an earlier ruling in November 2023 in which a Dutch court rejected Percev's request for supervised release, rejecting the prosecution's argument that he posed a flight risk.
During the March hearing, Percev argued that it should not be liable for the actions of individuals who used the Tornado Cash protocol for illegal purposes. However, the court rejected this argument, stating that Percev and its affiliates could implement additional measures to prevent criminal abuse of the protocol.
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