Crypto commentators question judge’s differing stance in Uniswap and Tornado Cash cases

Commentators in the crypto sector have drawn attention to a disturbing difference in the rhetoric of District Judge Hon. Katherine Failla, the presiding judge in the Uniswap and Tornado Cash cases, as prosecutors from the Southern District of New York (SDNY) motioned for the retrial of Roman Storm, one of the developers behind the now unsanctioned crypto money mixer service. 

In an X post responding to criticism of the DOJ’s decision to retry Roman Storm in October, Brian Nistler, Uniswap Labs’ Associate General Counsel and Head of Policy, recalled a sentiment shared by Judge Failla when she passed her judgment in the lawsuit filed in April 2022, when investors accused Uniswap Labs of aiding fraud schemes. 

In Judge Fallia’s words: It “‘defies logic’ that a drafter of a smart contract, a computer code, could be held liable … for a third-party user’s misuse of the platform.” 

However, it appears that “logic” is not being applied to Roman Storm, who is seeking financial support again, as he is back to appealing for funds for what is expected to be a fresh round with the hardcore prosecutors from the South District of New York. 

South District judge draws line between Uniswaps and Tornado Cash

According to an observation by the host of the Crypto in America podcast, Eleanor Terrett, there is a palpable difference in Judge Failla’s tone, despite the apparent overlaps between Uniswap Labs’ defense and the case against Tornado Cash.  

Roman Storm has many crypto stakeholders sympathetic to his cause, raising over $5.4 million from donors like the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin. However, one thing that many have struggled to understand is why it appears the SDNY and DOJ continue to aggressively pursue legal action against the Tornado Cash developer despite mounting arguments against it.

Some have gone as far as calling the apparent double standards “judicial prejudice” on the part of the judge, as the push to resurrect the case comes after a jury had abstained from delivering a verdict on money laundering and sanctions violations charges against Storm. 

Amanda Tuminelli, executive director and CLO at DeFi Education Fund, called out “multiple legal and logical fallacies” and “obvious mistakes” by the SDNY prosecutors the first time, including “calling irrelevant witnesses and not understanding the forensic analysis of their own blockchain evidence.”

Jennifer Rosenthal Maimon from the same outfit struggled to describe how icky the “beyond disappointing outcome” felt. 

Comments made by Judge Failla during her ruling in the Uniswap Labs case from last week aside, Dean Eigenmann asked if the March 2026 document by the US Treasury Department helped Storm’s case in any way. In the report to Congress, the Treasury Department made the argument for why regular people need crypto mixers like Tornado Cash to keep their financial data private, while admitting the concern that criminals may also misuse the service. 

Jay Clayton and SDNY prosecutors extend mean streak

Grok, xAI’s chatbot, specifically namedropped United States Attorney Jay Clayton in its response to a query by Alex Shapiro, founder and CEO of MetaLeX and former general counsel at Delphi Labs, about “who makes the prosecutorial decisions for the US DOJ SDNY.” 

It added that Clayton and the Assistant U.S. Attorneys assigned to it in the relevant division expressed their “substantial autonomy” with this March 9 filing requesting Roman Storm’s retrial date, even though high-profile matters may involve coordination with the Main Justice in D.C.

Jay Clayton is infamous in crypto circles for knocking down every Bitcoin ETF attempt while in office and initiating many of the lawsuits that were subsequently dropped by the pro-crypto Trump administration, including the XRP lawsuit that he filed on his last day in office in December 2020. 

Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler also cited Clayton’s 2018 “every ICO I have seen is a security” comment as legal precedent for the heavy-handed approach his administration took with the crypto sector.

The SDNY, where Clayton now serves as a US Attorney, has also had its target trained on crypto offenders. The office led the prosecution of Samourai Wallet devs, with William Hill getting a four-year sentence while his partner, Keonne Rodriguez, got hit with five years for running a crypto mixer that hid over $200 million in illegal money. 

Cryptopolitan reported last month that SDNY prosecutors, including Letitia James and Alvin Bragg, wrote to Congress to complain about how the GENIUS Act allows stablecoin companies like Tether and Circle to earn billions in interest on stolen funds instead of turning over the assets to the authorities or returning them to the victims.

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