NEW YORK, New York — A federal judge has prohibited any mention of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions against the privacy tool Tornado Cash at the upcoming trial of developer Roman Storm. The decision was made by District Judge Katherine Polk Failla on Tuesday.

At a recent status conference, Failla initially seemed uncertain about permitting expert witnesses to speak regarding the sanctions, which were first imposed in August 2022, lifted in March this year, and later ruled unlawful by a Texas court.

After listening to arguments from both sides, Failla chose to restrict any testimony regarding the sanctions entirely, stating that it would be overly confusing for jurors to comprehend the timeline surrounding the sanctions and their removal.

“I am going to preclude references to the August 2022 OFAC sanctions,” Failla noted, although she left room for a potential exception if prosecutors present a significant piece of evidence before the trial starts.

Failla’s ruling also denied other motions from Storm’s defense, including prohibiting discussion of North Korea’s Lazarus Group and any biases concerning Storm’s TORN sales. Furthermore, prosecutors aim to showcase how Storm profited from Tornado Cash, including selling $12 million worth of TORN tokens after the sanctions were enacted.

Additionally, the ruling permitted the government to use evidence from Alexey Pertsev, another Tornado Cash developer. His phone’s data was made accessible to law enforcement by Dutch authorities, although Storm’s defense argued its validity.

Currently, it remains uncertain if Storm will personally take the stand, but Failla emphasized that if he does, he cannot argue with First Amendment protections regarding his work on Tornado Cash. A final pre-trial meeting will occur by phone on Friday at 3 PM ET, with the trial set to begin on June 14 and to last approximately four weeks.