TechFlow news, October 15 — According to Business Insider, two brothers and MIT graduates, Anton Peraire-Bueno (25) and James Peraire-Bueno (29), are set to go on trial Tuesday at a federal court in Manhattan over alleged cryptocurrency fraud.
Prosecutors allege the pair stole $25 million in cryptocurrency in just 12 seconds in April 2023 through complex Ethereum blockchain transactions. The indictment describes this "unprecedented" fraud scheme as meticulously planned over months, leveraging the specialized skills the brothers developed during their education to "compromise the integrity of the Ethereum blockchain."
Authorities say the brothers studied victims' trading behaviors before carrying out the theft, then used shell companies, private cryptocurrency addresses, and overseas exchanges to conceal their identities and the flow of stolen funds. They also searched for terms such as "how to launder cryptocurrency." Defense attorneys argue the brothers committed no fraud, but merely "outsmarted predatory automated trading bots." Both are currently released on $250,000 bail each, and the trial is expected to last through the first week of November.
