A federal jury is about to listen to opening statements within the case of two MIT-educated brothers accused of swiping $25 million in a 12-second cryptocurrency heist.
James Peraire-Bueno arrives at federal courtroom in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025. Two brothers, each latest Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates accused of stealing $25 million of cryptocurrency from Ethereum merchants, are happening trial.(Bloomberg)
Anton Peraire-Bueno, 25, and James Peraire-Bueno, 29, will face a jury composed of college-educated people in Manhattan on Tuesday, Business Insider reported.
A $25 million crypto heist
The opening statements on Tuesday are anticipated to explain how the Peraire-Bueno brothers carried out an advanced, multi-step transaction on the Ethereum blockchain to fraudulently get hold of roughly $25 million price of cryptocurrency from sufferer cryptocurrency merchants.
The heist took months to plan and simply 12 seconds to finish, the US Department of Justice mentioned in a 2024 press launch.
Prosecutors say that earlier than the heist, the brothers Googled “how to wash crypto,” “top crypto lawyers,” “fraudulent Ethereum addresses database,” and “money laundering statue [sic] of limitations.”
“These brothers allegedly dedicated a first-of-its-kind manipulation of the Ethereum blockchain by fraudulently getting access to pending transactions, altering the motion of the digital foreign money, and finally stealing $25 million in cryptocurrency from their victims,” mentioned Special Agent in Charge Thomas Fattorusso of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York Field Office.
The MIT-educated crypto thieves
Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Pepaire-Bueno are brothers who studied arithmetic and laptop science on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – one of many world’s most prestigious universities.
“Using the specialized skills developed during their education, as well as their expertise in cryptocurrency trading,” the brothers “exploited the very integrity of the Ethereum blockchain,” prosecutors mentioned in a 19-page indictment final 12 months, as reported by Business Insider.
They stand accused of wire fraud and cash laundering, however have “strongly contested” the accusations.
Their legal professional claims that they didn’t defraud crypto merchants however merely outsmarted automated buying and selling bots.
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