May 15, 2024 at 02:37PM
Two brothers, Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Pepaire-Bueno, were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly manipulating the Ethereum blockchain to steal $25 million worth of cryptocurrency in a scheme that took just 12 seconds to execute. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.
The meeting notes indicate that two brothers, Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Pepaire-Bueno, have been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly manipulating the Ethereum blockchain and stealing $25 million worth of cryptocurrency within approximately 12 seconds in a “first-of-its-kind” scheme. They were charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and money laundering. The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Cyber Investigations Unit in New York, with the assistance of the New York City Police Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The brothers are accused of manipulating transaction validation processes on the blockchain, accessing pending private transactions, altering them, obtaining victims’ cryptocurrency, and rejecting requests to return the stolen funds. They allegedly learned their victims’ trading behaviors while preparing the attack, took measures to hide their identities and the stolen proceeds, and used multiple cryptocurrency addresses, foreign exchanges, and shell companies to conceal their illegal gains.
Furthermore, they are said to have taken several steps to conceal their identities and carry out the attack, from deploying test transactions to identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in the MEV-Boost relay code.
The meeting notes also highlight the accused brothers’ online searches for information on carrying out the attack, concealing their involvement in the Ethereum exploit, laundering the criminal proceeds through cryptocurrency exchanges, hiring attorneys with cryptocurrency expertise, extradition procedures, and the crimes outlined in the indictment.
The U.S. Attorney and IRS-CI special agent have both made statements on the alleged manipulation of the Ethereum blockchain and the theft of $25 million in cryptocurrency from the victims.
This is a high-profile case with serious implications and significant outcomes if the defendants are convicted, including a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count.