U.S. prosecutors have charged a 22-year-old Canadian man with stealing a mixed $65 million in crypto by way of two separate decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks — the 2021 Indexed Finance exploit and the 2023 KyberSwap hack.
In a newly-unsealed indictment filed within the Jap District of New York (EDNY), prosecutors say Andean “Andy” Medjedovic was the mastermind behind each exploits. Although Medjedovic’s alleged function within the KyberSwap exploit was beforehand unknown, he has publicly admitted to being the Listed Finance attacker, wiping $16 million from the DeFi platform when he was nonetheless a youngster.
Learn extra: After Stealing $16M, This Teen Hacker Seems Intent on Testing ‘Code is Law’ in the Courts
Medjedovic did little to cover his identity as the Indexed Finance hacker as a result of he professed to consider he wasn’t truly doing something unlawful. One other DeFi hacker, Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg, took the same “code is regulation” place after his 2022 Mango Markets exploit, claiming that siphoning $110 million from the decentralized trade was truthful sport. A New York jury disagreed, finding Eisenberg guilty of fraud and market manipulation. He might be sentenced later this yr, and faces as much as 20 years in jail.
Medjedovic has been on the run since December 2021, when a Canadian courtroom issued a warrant for his arrest. In 2023, he told a DeFi Llama reporter that it was “exhausting” dwelling as a fugitive, saying that he had been bouncing round by way of Europe, South America and an unnamed island nation whereas on the lam. A spokesperson for the Jap District of New York (EDNY) advised CoinDesk that Medjedovic stays “at giant” and isn’t believed to be within the U.S.
Eight months after telling the identical reporter that he was now a whitehat hacker, prosecutors say Medjedovic stole about $50 million from KyberSwap. In accordance with the indictment, Medjedovic deliberate the KyberSwap hack for months earlier than appearing, writing to himself “Discover time to Strike!” and making a “POST-EXPLOITATION” plan for himself.
In a single file, Medjedovic allegedly mused on his previous errors, writing “Going On the run / Sure / Probability of getting caught Medjedovic has been charged with one depend of wire fraud, one depend of unauthorized harm to a protected pc, one depend of tried Hobbs Act extortion, one depend of cash laundering conspiracy and one depend of cash laundering. He faces a most penalty of 90 years in jail.
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