Two Brothers Indicted for $25 Million Ethereum Blockchain Heist
Anton Peraire-Bueno, 24, of Boston, and James Pepaire-Bueno, 28, of New York, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
According to the DOJ, the brothers allegedly orchestrated a scheme that exploited the integrity of the Ethereum blockchain to fraudulently obtain approximately $25 million worth of cryptocurrency in just 12 seconds.
Key points:
- Authorities accuse the Peraire-Bueno brothers of manipulating and tampering with the Ethereum blockchain.
- The alleged scheme allowed the brothers to gain access to pending private transactions and alter them to steal victims’ cryptocurrency.
- The brothers meticulously planned the exploit over several months, studying victim traders’ behaviors and setting up shell companies.
- If found guilty, each brother could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each count.
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Brothers allegedly used their educational skills to tamper with Ethereum blockchain
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York underscored the novelty of the alleged scheme. He noted that it “calls the very integrity of the blockchain into question.”
The brothers allegedly used their specialized skills and education to “tamper with and manipulate the protocols relied upon by millions of Ethereum users across the globe.”
The Peraire-Bueno brothers meticulously planned the exploit over several months. The duo studied their victims’ trading behaviors and set up shell companies and multiple private cryptocurrency addresses to conceal their identities and the stolen proceeds, according to the indictment.
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They also used foreign cryptocurrency exchanges with limited “know your customer” procedures to launder their criminal proceeds.
The successful execution of the exploit in just 12 seconds highlights the vulnerability of even the most secure and transparent financial systems to sophisticated attacks.
