According to BlockBeats, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of the United States Department of Justice arrested brothers Anton Perel-Bueno and James Perel-Bueno on May 16. They were accused of exploiting a vulnerability in the Ethereum blockchain to steal approximately $25 million worth of cryptocurrency in about 12 seconds.
According to the indictment, the two suspects, who studied mathematics and computer science at a prestigious U.S. university, used their expertise to manipulate and tamper with the Ethereum blockchain’s transaction verification and addition protocols to fraudulently obtain victims’ cryptocurrencies. This is the first-ever attack of its kind.
The two were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Deputy Attorney General Monaco said that although the defendants planned for months and carried out this complex and unprecedented fraud in seconds, they still could not escape justice.
