Latest news with #sanctionsevasion
Reuters
06-08-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US jury deadlocks on Tornado Cash founder's money laundering charge
NEW YORK, August 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. jury deadlocked on Wednesday on money laundering and sanctions evasion charges against the founder of Tornado Cash, opens new tab, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track. The jury in Manhattan federal court could not reach a verdict on charges Roman Storm conspired to launder the proceeds of hacks, including by a sanctioned North Korean government-backed group. But the jury found him guilty of the less serious charge of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla at a later date. The money laundering and sanctions evasion conspiracy charges each carried possible 20-year sentences. Storm was arrested in 2023 on charges that the so-called mixer he founded helped hide more than $1 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars for Pyongyang-backed hacking group Lazarus Group, which is blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury over its alleged financial support of North Korea. Storm, 36, had pleaded not guilty to all three felony charges he faced. In his closing argument on July 30 after a two-week trial in Manhattan federal court, defense lawyer David Patton said even though Tornado Cash's privacy tools may have been useful to criminals, Storm's intent was not to help conceal illicit funds. "There is nothing unlawful about the software that he built," Patton said. "The evidence here shows that Roman very much did not want hackers and scammers to use Tornado Cash." Prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti said Storm had been informed multiple times between 2020 and 2022 that Tornado Cash was helping criminals hide dirty money, but kept running the business out of greed. Gianforti said Tornado Cash's emphasis on user privacy was a "cover story." "The real money wasn't in protecting privacy for regular folks, it was in providing privacy for big time crypto criminals," Gianforti said. "Hackers were his best customers." Tornado Cash had itself been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury under then-President Joe Biden's Democratic administration over its alleged support of North Korea. The Treasury lifted those sanctions in March, two months into Republican President Donald Trump's administration, saying it had reviewed legal and policy issues raised by the sanctions within "evolving technology and legal environments." Last year, one of Tornado Cash's developers, Alexey Pertsev, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in the Netherlands for money laundering.
Zawya
02-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
India's Adani denies sanctions evasion or Iran LPG trade after WSJ reports US probe
India's Adani Group on Monday denied "any deliberate engagement" in sanctions evasion or trade involving Iranian-origin liquefied petroleum gas, after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. prosecutors were probing whether Adani entities had imported Iranian LPG into India through their Mundra port. An Adani spokesperson called the report "baseless and mischievous" in a statement, adding: "We are not aware of any investigation by U.S. authorities on this subject." The WSJ said it had found tankers travelling between the Gulf and billionaire Gautam Adani's Mundra port in western India exhibiting traits that experts say are common for ships evading sanctions. It said the U.S. Justice Department was reviewing the activities of several LPG tankers used to ship cargoes to Adani Enterprises, the group's flagship entity, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Adani said it did not handle any cargo from Iran at its ports, as a matter of policy. It said all its LPG trade, which accounts for 1.46% of Adani Enterprises' total revenue, was fully compliant with domestic and international laws, including U.S. sanctions regulations. A shipment referred to by the WSJ was handled as a "routine commercial transaction" via third-party logistics partners and supported by documentation identifying Sohar, Oman, as the port of origin, Adani said. U.S. President Donald Trump said in May that any party buying Iranian oil or petrochemical products would immediately be subject to secondary sanctions. Last November, U.S. authorities indicted Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, on suspicion of paying bribes to secure power supply contracts and misleading U.S. investors during fund-raising in the United States. Adani Group has denied the accusations and vowed to fight them. (Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina, Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Mark Heinrich and Kevin Liffey)
Free Malaysia Today
02-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Indian billionaire Adani under new scrutiny from US prosecutors
Gautam Adani has categorically denied any deliberate engagement in sanctions evasion. (EPA Images pic) NEW YORK : US prosecutors are investigating whether Indian billionaire Gautam Adani's companies imported Iranian liquefied petroleum gas into India through their Mundra port, the Wall Street Journal reported today. A WSJ investigation found tankers travelling between Mundra in the western Indian state of Gujarat and the Persian Gulf exhibited traits experts say are common for ships evading sanctions, the report said. The US justice department is reviewing activities of several LPG tankers used to ship cargoes to Adani Enterprises, the WSJ said, citing people familiar with the matter. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. 'Adani categorically denies any deliberate engagement in sanctions evasion or trade involving Iranian-origin LPG,' a company spokesman told the WSJ in a statement. 'Further, we are not aware of any investigation by US authorities on this subject.' Adani, the US department of justice and the US attorney's office in Brooklyn did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. US President Donald Trump said in May that all purchases of Iranian oil or petrochemical products must stop and any country or person buying any from the country would be immediately subject to secondary sanctions. Any inquiry into Adani would come months after US authorities indicted Adani and his nephew, Sagar Adani, alleging they paid bribes to secure power supply contracts, and misled US investors during fund-raising in the US. Adani Group has called the accusations 'baseless' and vowed to seek 'all possible legal recourse'.
