Two brothers, Anton Peraire-Bueno of Boston and James Peraire-Bueno of New York, were arrested yesterday in connection with a massive heist on the Ethereum blockchain which led to the loss of $25 million worth of crypto assets.
The two brothers were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to a post by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs, Anton, 24, and James, 28, were arrested on Wednesday in Boston and New York, respectively, and will be presented this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul G. Levenson for the District of Massachusetts and U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo for the Southern District of New York.
The US attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams gave his account of the development from his end.
Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York Field Office gave intricate details of the heist and the background of the two brothers involved.
The two brothers who studied mathematics and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States face up to 20 years jail term for each count if indicted.
IRS-CI New York’s Cyber Investigations Unit investigated the case, with the assistance of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the New York City Police Department.