Two brothers who went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are facing fraud charges after prosecutors say the pair schemed to obtain $25 million in cryptocurrency in just 12 seconds.
Brothers Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Peraire-Bueno were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.
Calling their alleged actions a “novel scheme by the defendants to exploit the very integrity of the Ethereum blockchain,” the Department of Justice said they were arrested Tuesday in Boston and New York.
Ethereum is a technological system used for digital money, global payments and applications, according to its website.
“The brothers, who studied computer science and math at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, allegedly used their specialized skills and education to…
