CBS News
Brothers accused of stealing $25 million in cryptocurrency in 12 seconds in Ethereum blockchain scheme
Washington — A pair of brothers from New York and Boston were taken into federal custody Tuesday, accused by prosecutors of devising a novel criminal scheme to steal about $25 million in cryptocurrency from a commonly used blockchain, according to a newly unsealed indictment.
Anton and James Peraire-Bueno were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Investigators accused them of spending months plotting their theft within the Ethereum blockchain, baiting their victims and establishing shell companies to hide their illicit profits.
According to charging documents, the pair studied math and computer science “at one of the most prestigious universities in the country,” which prosecutors said afforded them a unique set of skills that allowed them to carry out the first-of-its-kind endeavor in a matter of seconds. James Peraire-Bueno is listed as a 2021 graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The brothers allegedly started laying the groundwork in December 2022, engaging in what investigators called a “baiting” operation that targeted three specific victim traders on the digital Ethereum platform. They are specifically accused of exploiting the “validators” on the blockchain, vital components of the integrity and security of transactions.
“In doing so, they fraudulently gained access to pending private transactions and used that access to alter certain transactions and obtain their victims’ cryptocurrency,” prosecutors alleged in court documents.
Investigators said the defendants’ plot took months to plan but just 12 seconds to execute, allegedly raking in approximately $25 million from their unwitting victims.
From April and June of last year, Peraire-Buenos are accused of laundering their money through shell companies. Prosecutors said the duo even rejected repeated requests from a victim, the victim’s attorney and an Ethereum representative to return the cryptocurrency.
They were arrested on Tuesday and are expected to make their initial appearances in New York and Boston federal courts on Wednesday.
“As cryptocurrency markets continue to evolve, the Justice Department will continue to root out fraud, support victims, and restore confidence to these markets,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement.
Attorneys for the brothers could not be immediately identified.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
CBS News
Sen. Mark Kelly says feds need to do a “better job” of letting Americans know “there’s a huge amount of misinformation” on election
Washington — Sen. Mark Kelly said Sunday that the federal government needs to do its part to inform Americans of the vast swath of election misinformation that’s being consumed on social media platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.
“It’s up to us, the people who serve in Congress and in the White House to get the information out there, that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation in this election, and it’s not going to stop on Nov. 5,” Kelly said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Kelly, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he’s seen these misinformation operations target not only his state of Arizona, but also other battleground states.
“There is a very reasonable chance I would put it in the 20 to 30% range, that the content you are seeing, the comments you are seeing, are coming from one of those three countries: Russia, Iran, China,” Kelly said.
CBS News
In a committee hearing last month on foreign threats to the 2024 election, Kelly presented screenshots of Russian-made web pages showing fabricated headlines designed to look like Fox News and The Washington Post, targeted at voters in battleground states.
“So my constituents in Arizona and others — they seek to influence the outcome of these elections, and that is absolutely beyond the pale,” Kelly said at the Sept. 18 hearing. “We’ve got to do something about it.”
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump each have the support of 49% of Arizona voters, according to CBS News’ battleground tracker as of Sept. 30.
In another battleground state, Pennsylvania, Trump returned Saturday to hold a rally in Butler three months after an attempted assassination on him. He was joined by members of his own party and billionaire Elon Musk, who said Trump was the only way to preserve democracy and warned of a last election if he does not win in November.
Speaking to CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Kelly called the social media mogul a hypocrite.
“He’s standing next to the guy that tried to overturn the 2020 election on Jan. 6, saying that this is somehow going to be the last election and they’re going to take away your vote,” Kelly said. “And you know, it just doesn’t pass the logic test.”
At the White House press briefing on Friday, President Biden – speaking from the podium for the first time since taking office – said he’s confident of a free and fair election but alluded to the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol in his concerns on whether it will be a peaceful transfer of power.
“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous,” Mr. Biden said. “If you notice, I noticed that the vice-presidential Republican candidate did not say he’d accept the outcome of the election, and they haven’t even accepted the outcome of the last election.”
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Vikings fans pack Fridley brewery to watch London game
UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell says Gaza is a “hellscape for children”
Sen. Mark Kelly says feds need to do a “better job” of letting Americans know “there’s a huge amount of misinformation” on election
Vikings fans pack Fridley brewery to watch London game
UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell says Gaza is a “hellscape for children”