Federal prosecutors claim that two brothers with MIT backgrounds executed a cryptocurrency theft in mere seconds, resulting in a loss of $25 million in a “pioneering” fraud scheme.
The brothers’ defense argues that no fraud took place; rather, they simply outsmarted “predatory” automated trading systems. In the cutthroat world of crypto trading, they contend, their actions were legitimate and not fraudulent.
Anton Peraire-Bueno, 25, and his brother James Peraire-Bueno, 29, will present this argument during their upcoming trial in a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. If found guilty of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering, each brother faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years for each charge.
This trial occurs alongside the Trump administration’s attempts to regulate the cryptocurrency sector, aiming to instill more oversight.
The prosecutors’ arguments
According to prosecutors, the brothers’ theft from the Ethereum blockchain in April 2023 was “painstakingly orchestrated” over a period of three months, complete with online searches for phrases like “how to wash crypto” and “top crypto lawyers.” Prosecutors allege that they conducted “bait transactions” to identify three victim traders and then “trapped” their trading bots into a quick scam.
Prosecutors further assert the brothers exploited a software flaw that allowed them unauthorized access to private transactions and manipulated the purchases. Ultimately, the victims found their $25 million had converted into a collection of effectively worthless cryptocurrencies.
