Two brothers who both studied at MIT have been charged with stealing US$25 million worth of Ethereum within 12 seconds after they exploited a weakness in its blockchain.
The Peraire-Bueno brothers were charged by federal prosecutors with fraud and money laundering offences after being accused of undergoing the hyper-speed heist, which they had plotted for months before enacting last year.
Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, revealed how their expert knowledge helped them achieve the lightning-fast theft.
He said in a statement: “The brothers, who studied computer science and math at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, 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 US Justice Department has been stepping up its efforts to catch those who have been committing fraud and misconduct in the crypto space.
Fellow MIT student Sam Bankman-Fried and his platform FTX became the most high-profile case of crypto fraud when it was revealed some US$8 billion of customer funds had gone missing.
In March, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with his judge noting a lack of remorse specifically for the commission of the crimes.
Meanwhile, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the founder and former boss of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, copped a four-month prison sentence for allowing money laundering on his exchange.