Roman Storm, the developer behind Tornado Cash, now faces up to 45 years in prison for creating a privacy tool—charged by the U.S. government with money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitter, and sanctions violations. This in-depth report traces his journey from Russian immigrant to Silicon Valley engineer, examines the technical logic of Tornado Cash and its regulatory backlash, and explores how the upcoming trial could shape not just one developer’s fate, but the future of privacy technology itself.