One of the mixer’s developers previously said they don’t control the protocol, but Dutch authorities claim founders have made money off crypto thefts.
Authorities claim that founders of a “decentralized” and “open source” project run mostly by the community were making “large-scale profits” off illicit funds funneled through their platform, and now at least one founder has come face-to-face with the long arm of Dutch law enforcement.
The Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, the country’s finance crime law enforcement division, announced Friday that they had arrested a 29-year-old Amsterdam resident who they alleged was involved “in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering” through the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
Tornado Cash, which self-identifies as a decentralized, open source project, was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury Monday, accusing the service of allowing illicit parties to launder over $7 billion worth of crypto in the three years since launch. Among that was apparently a massive chunk of the $625 million Ronin Bridge hack stolen by hackers linked to the North Korean regime.
But apparently, Dutch officials have been investigating Tornado Cash even before the U.S. put the crypto mixer on its sanctions list. The release states that the cyber arm of FIOD started investigating Tornado Cash back in June of this year. The law enforcement agency said they suspect the persons behind the creators of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that runs the crypto mixer has seen a turnover of “at least” $7 billion and that the founders “have made large-scale profits” from funds stolen through hacks, including those run by North Korean-affiliated operations.
