The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) faced a setback as a federal court in Austin ruled against restoring sanctions on the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash. Judge Robert Pitman’s judgment on April 28 deemed OFAC’s sanctions as unlawful and permanently barred the agency from enforcing them. Tornado Cash users, led by Joseph Van Loon, challenged OFAC’s inclusion of the platform’s smart contract addresses on the SDN list, arguing it was not lawful. The initial sanctions on Tornado Cash in August 2022 accused the protocol of aiding in laundering crypto stolen by the Lazarus Group. Despite being removed from the list on March 21, OFAC’s attempt to re-sanction the platform was thwarted by the latest ruling. The court’s decision followed a reversal by the Fifth Circuit, which led to the revocation of sanctions. In a related development, the DeFi Education Fund petitioned White House crypto czar David Sacks to drop charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, who faces accusations of laundering over $1 billion in crypto. The group criticized the Department of Justice for holding software developers criminally responsible for how others use their code, warning of potential repercussions on crypto development in the US. Storm’s trial is scheduled for July, and the outcome could have broader implications for the crypto industry.