Yahoo Finance DOJ: $25 million in crypto allegedly stolen by 2 brothers in 12 seconds
May 15 (UPI) — The Justice Department on Wednesday revealed it indicted two brothers in their twenties for a series of alleged crimes for manipulating the cryptocurrency market to steal $25 million in crypto in a 12-second period, according to reports.
Anton Peraire-Bueno, 24, of Boston, Mass., and his brother James Peraire-Bueno, 28, of New York were arrested Monday in their respective cities and are being charged for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering,
"This alleged scheme was novel and has never before been charged," Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, said in a news release.
The Peraire-Bueno brothers Wednesday afternoon will be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson for the Massachusetts District, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo for New York's Southern District of New York.
If convicted, the brothers individually face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each criminal count.
"As alleged in today's indictment, the Peraire-Bueno brothers stole $25 million in Ethereum cryptocurrency through a technologically sophisticated, cutting-edge scheme they plotted for months and executed in seconds," Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a news release.
The Justice Department alleges the Peraire-Bueno brothers had "meticulously" planned their "exploit" over the course of several months. The indictment says their alleged crimes began as early as December 2022 and continued as far as this month with a series of executed financial transactions.
Monaco indicated that Internal Revenue Service agents were instrumental in unraveling the "first-of-its kind wire fraud and money laundering scheme" allegedly committed by the brothers.
Williams says their alleged crimes "calls the very integrity of the blockchain into question."
According to the Justice Department, the brothers had studied computer science and math "at one of the most prestigious universities in the world." The internet links one of them to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The federal government alleges that the two "used their specialized skills and education to tamper with and manipulate the protocols relied upon by millions of Ethereum users across the globe. And once they put their plan into action, their heist only took 12 seconds to complete."
Among other things, DOJ says they took the time to learn the trading behaviors of the victim traders whose cryptocurrency they allegedly stole, and "took numerous steps" to conceal their identities and "lay the groundwork to conceal the stolen proceeds," which the government contends included setting up shell companies and using multiple private cryptocurrency addresses and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges.
The indictment asked for a series of JP Morgan Chase and Choice Bank accounts under their names to be seized along with other personal property. The federal government claims the two had executed a series of financial translations designed to conceal not only their identities, but the real ownership of the funds stolen.
But investigators had found that both brothers had a digital search history consistent with the alleged crimes committed by them, including lawyers and American extradition policies.
