Mistrial Declared for MIT Brothers in $25M Crypto Heist Case

Key Takeaways

• MIT-educated brothers face mistrial in $25 million crypto heist case
• Jury deadlocked on wire fraud and money laundering charges
• Prosecutors alleged 12-second exploit of Ethereum blockchain vulnerability

A federal judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the high-profile case against two MIT-educated brothers accused of orchestrating a sophisticated $25 million cryptocurrency theft that took just 12 seconds to execute.

U.S. District Judge Jessica Clarke in Manhattan dismissed jurors after they failed to reach a verdict on whether to convict or acquit Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Peraire-Bueno. The brothers faced charges of carrying out what prosecutors called a first-of-its-kind wire fraud and money laundering scheme.

The Alleged Crypto Exploit

According to prosecutors, the Peraire-Bueno brothers spent months planning to manipulate Ethereum blockchain validation protocols. They allegedly exploited a vulnerability in MEV-boost software, which is used by most Ethereum network validators to check transaction validity.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Nees described the scheme as a “high-speed bait-and-switch” designed to trap trading bots and drain other traders’ accounts. “Then they planted a trade that looked like one thing from the outside, but was secretly something else,” Nees told jurors during his October 15 opening statement.

Defense Counterarguments

Katherine Trefz, representing James Peraire-Bueno, argued that their trading strategy was not only novel but legitimate. She maintained it was “consistent with the principles at play in this very competitive trading environment.”

Both brothers studied computer science at MIT, where prosecutors say they developed the technical skills used in their alleged trading strategy. The case proceeded to trial despite shifting enforcement priorities under the current administration.