Arrested Tornado Cash developer, Alexey Pertsev was formerly employed by a company linked to the Russian Security Agency FSB, as per intelligence firm Kharon report.
As per the firm’s findings, in 2017, Pertsev worked as an information security specialist and developer of smart contracts for Digital Security OOO, a Russian entity. The Treasury Department established the fact that Digital Security OOO was responsible for providing material and technological support to the FSB as far back as 2015.
Nick Grothaus, vice president of research at Kharon said, “You had this guy working for Digital Security OOO and doing pen testing himself, and then Treasury designated the company for helping the FSB’s hacking capabilities.”
The whole facade started when the US Treasury Department sanctioned Tornado Cash on Aug 8, alleging that the hacking groups including North Korea’s Lazarus Group have used the crypto mixer to launder billions of dollars.
Following the sanctions, the Dutch authorities arrested Pertsev on suspicion of involvement in concealing criminal financial flows and facilitating money laundering.
This started a debate in the crypto community over how the US government can target an open-source software program. Even US lawmaker Tom Emmer questioned Treasury Department’s OFAC to justify its ‘unprecedented’ sanctioning of Tornado Cash.
However, the new revelations suggest otherwise. Pertsev’s background paints a much bleak picture of the ongoing issue. National security experts are pointing out that the public is unaware of the complete information about the sanctions.
An adjunct senior at the Center for a New American Security Alex Zerden commented that the case opens up a lot of credibility issues for the developers of Tornado Cash. He also added that this is a pretty profound revelation that informs why the US government and Dutch authorities have taken certain actions.
Last week, developers and Pertsev’s family rallied to support him, protesting that Pertsev should not be held accountable for writing open-source code regardless of how it’s used by bad actors.
Now that this new information has resurfaced, the immediate response from the crypto advocates has become a bit questionable. However, the whole truth is yet to be revealed.
