A federal jury is set to hear opening statements in Manhattan on Tuesday in the fraud and conspiracy trial of two MIT-educated brothers accused in a lightning-fast, $25 million cryptocurrency heist.
The defendants — Anton Peraire-Bueno, 25, of Boston, and James Peraire-Bueno, 29, of New York City — will face a jury of their peers in the complicated case, at least in terms of education.
The daylong jury selection on Monday resulted in a seven-woman, five-man panel consisting entirely of individuals with college degrees.
Half of the jurors hold master’s degrees, including in finance, the sciences, medicine, and education.
The jurors, almost all of whom are middle- or retirement-aged, will return to court on Tuesday morning, when they’ll be sworn in, listen to opening statements, and hear the first government witnesses by the end of the day.
The openings promise to describe a complex, multi-step transaction on the Ethereum blockchain that left the brothers $25 million richer, while a trio of traders were left holding a pile of worthless, illiquid junk crypto.
Prosecutors say the “first-of-its-kind” fraud scheme took months of meticulous planning and was executed in just 12 seconds on a day in April 2023.
Before and after the alleged exploit, prosecutors say, the brothers typed in internet searches that included: “how to wash crypto,” “top crypto lawyers,” “fraudulent Ethereum addresses database,” and “money laundering statue [sic] of limitations.”
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Prosecutors allege that the brothers studied the trading behaviors of the victim traders before the heist, then took steps afterward to hide their identities and the location of the pilfered cryptocurrency. They’ve promised to reveal a web of shell companies, private cryptocurrency addresses, and foreign cryptocurrency exchanges.
“Using the specialized skills developed during their education, as well as their expertise in cryptocurrency trading,” the brothers “exploited the very integrity of the Ethereum blockchain,” prosecutors said in a 19-page indictment last year.
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The brothers, who remain free on $250,000 bail each, have strongly contested the prosecution’s accusations.
Their defense attorneys have argued that there was no fraud at all and that they merely outsmarted some “predatory” automated trading bots.
The alleged victims lost their cryptocurrency “through pre-programmed trades without ever interacting with the Peraire-Buenos, directly or indirectly,” the defense lawyers argued earlier this year, in a failed motion to dismiss the indictment.
In a blow to the defense last week, US District Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke barred the Peraire-Bueno’s lawyers from arguing, as she put it, “that the victims deserved this.”
The judge also barred defense experts from testifying about the lack of regulation in the cryptocurrency market.
The trial is expected to last into early November.