Canadian Math Prodigy Allegedly Stole $65 Million In Crypto (theglobeandmail.com) 64
A Canadian math prodigy is accused of stealing over $65 million through complex exploits on decentralized finance platforms and is currently a fugitive from U.S. authorities. Despite facing criminal charges for fraud and money laundering, he has evaded capture by moving internationally, embracing the controversial "Code is Law" philosophy, and maintaining that his actions were legal under the platforms' open-source rules. The Globe and Mail reports: Andean Medjedovic was 18 years old when he made a decision that would irrevocably alter the course of his life. In the fall of 2021, shortly after completing a master's degree at the University of Waterloo, the math prodigy and cryptocurrency trader from Hamilton had conducted a complex series of transactions designed to exploit a vulnerability in the code of a decentralized finance platform. The maneuver had allegedly allowed him to siphon approximately $16.5-million in digital tokens out of two liquidity pools operated by the platform, Indexed Finance, according to a U.S. court document.
Indexed Finance's leaders traced the attack back to Mr. Medjedovic, and made him an offer: Return 90 per cent of the funds, keep the rest as a so-called "bug bounty" -- a reward for having identified an error in the code -- and all would be forgiven. Mr. Medjedovic would then be free to launch his career as a white hat, or ethical, hacker. Mr. Medjedovic didn't take the deal. His social media posts hinted, without overtly stating, that he believed that because he had operated within the confines of the code, he was entitled to the funds -- a controversial philosophy in the world of decentralized finance known as "Code is Law." But instead of testing that argument in court, Mr. Medjedovic went into hiding. By the time authorities arrived on a quiet residential street in Hamilton to search his parents' townhouse less than two months later, Mr. Medjedovic had moved out, taking his electronic devices with him.
Then, roughly two years later, he struck again, netting an even larger sum -- approximately $48.4-million -- by conducting a similar exploit on another decentralized finance platform, U.S. authorities allege. Mr. Medjedovic, now 22, faces five criminal charges -- including wire fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering -- according to a U.S. federal court document that was unsealed earlier this year. If convicted, he could be facing decades in prison. First, authorities will have to find him.
Indexed Finance's leaders traced the attack back to Mr. Medjedovic, and made him an offer: Return 90 per cent of the funds, keep the rest as a so-called "bug bounty" -- a reward for having identified an error in the code -- and all would be forgiven. Mr. Medjedovic would then be free to launch his career as a white hat, or ethical, hacker. Mr. Medjedovic didn't take the deal. His social media posts hinted, without overtly stating, that he believed that because he had operated within the confines of the code, he was entitled to the funds -- a controversial philosophy in the world of decentralized finance known as "Code is Law." But instead of testing that argument in court, Mr. Medjedovic went into hiding. By the time authorities arrived on a quiet residential street in Hamilton to search his parents' townhouse less than two months later, Mr. Medjedovic had moved out, taking his electronic devices with him.
Then, roughly two years later, he struck again, netting an even larger sum -- approximately $48.4-million -- by conducting a similar exploit on another decentralized finance platform, U.S. authorities allege. Mr. Medjedovic, now 22, faces five criminal charges -- including wire fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering -- according to a U.S. federal court document that was unsealed earlier this year. If convicted, he could be facing decades in prison. First, authorities will have to find him.
This is why 20 year olds (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: This is why 20 year olds (Score:5, Insightful)
He's got a future, he just needs to wait-out the statute of limitations on his crimes...
Or do you think this 25 year-old can't stay hidden with his $65+ million? His biggest challenge is banking, but there are certainly some central/South American pharmaceutical entrepreneurs that could show him how it's done...
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Maybe he can invest in and build something to become an invulnerable broligarch. They seem to be completely free from prosecution.
Trump is cheap. For $20,000, he'll pardon all crimes as long as you attempt to overthrow an election for him. Shit, post some white supremacist nonsense on your social media and he'll make you a cabinet member.
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White supremacist nonsense isn't enough for a cabinet position. Sub-cabinet assistant-level, maybe.
To get into the cabinet, you need to either be a billionaire already, or be a Fox Noise weekend clown / podcast clown who never deviates from the talking points, no matter how fucking stupid they are, or how hypocritical they are to yesterday's talking points. And you never EVER EVER admit wrong.
Only then, with a heaping pile of orange ass sucking, will you get a cabinet position. I mean, they all had to su
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So, you found a help number for people who believe that el Bunko is somehow (1) competent, or (2) a "businessman". Good for you!!
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...Not everyone trading in crypto is criminal scum
It's the 95% who are that he has to fear.
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More like .34% but okay.
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"He's got a future, he just needs to wait-out the statute of limitations on his crimes..."
He's Canadian and the crime was committed from within Canada which has NO statute of limitations on theft over $5000.
If the feds decide to ask Canada to charge him, he'll never be safe anywhere that has an extradition treaty with the Great White North.
On the other hand, since the orange assclown has poisoned relations with the Canuckistanis, perhaps he has little to worry about.
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He's charged in the US, which is where the crime was committed. Federal wire fraud seems to have a ten year statute of limitations and the other charges five years. Ten years on a beach for sixty million? I don't think I'd make that decision, but it's far from stupid.
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Just pull a Jordan Belfort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] You defraud hundreds of millions and do 24 months in rich person jail where you cellmate is a celebrity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
statute of limitations [Re: This is why 20 yea...] (Score:3)
He's got a future, he just needs to wait-out the statute of limitations on his crimes...
That's not how the statute of limitations works. A statute of limitations is the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings must be initiated. Since criminal charges have been filed, proceedings have been initiated. He can't wait it out.
https://www.investopedia.com/t... [investopedia.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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He's got a future, he just needs to wait-out the statute of limitations on his crimes...
That's not how the statute of limitations works. A statute of limitations is the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings must be initiated. Since criminal charges have been filed, proceedings have been initiated. He can't wait it out.
https://www.investopedia.com/t... [investopedia.com]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I'll add the even if proceeding hadn't been started, tolling [wikipedia.org] pauses the statute of limitations for as long as someone is out of the jurisdiction specifically to prevent them from skipping the country (in this case) to wait things out.
Re: This is why 20 year olds (Score:3)
How old do you need to be to know the difference between they're and their?
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Just say know.
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Impressive! I literally cannot tell whether the anonymous coward that wrote the woosh is an imbecile or a genius.
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Right. But instead, he chose to walk away with $16+ million, and has since garnered an estimated $48 million for similar exploits. All of this from a country that he has no association with.
What a moron. He'll be living like a king somewhere and will never be able to go to the US. That stupid mofo, what has he done?!?!?
I can't imagine being sued for stealing someones gold in a video game by exploiting some bad coding to take it, completely hack free. That's all this is.
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Right. But instead, he chose to walk away with $16+ million, and has since garnered an estimated $48 million for similar exploits. All of this from a country that he has no association with.
What a moron. He'll be living like a king somewhere and will never be able to go to the US. That stupid mofo, what has he done?!?!?
Worked for Gary McKinnon. Kinda, sorta, partially worked for Julian Assange. Didn't work for Maksim Silnikau.
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will never never be able to go to the US
Why would anyone want to go there now, or ever, anymore?
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I know it's super popular to act like the US is a desolate hell-hole, but it's been the world's top emigration destination for a long time.
Hell, even the Canadians were emigrating here en masse (they really love California). That, though, I suspect will drop quite a bit given the Cheetoh in Chief has declared war on Poutine.
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Trump would do it for $20k and a photo-op.
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Maybe he'll be first in line to buy a $5m "gold card" with Trump's fucking fat puss on it. Do those come with federal pardons, or is that an extra charge?
Know the room (Score:2)
Re: Know the room (Score:2)
That would be the "Sam Brinkman-Freid" approach...
https://www.reuters.com/legal/... [reuters.com]
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Yep. I mean, I don't know what the exact amount was, but Trump did shut down two investigations about him setting up exactly that scenario. You donate to his political fund, you get a pardon.
The 'bribery-for-pardon' scandal. You may have missed it what with all the others that came after.
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You're right. It doesn't even take that much.
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We're talking about real money vs. value of assets on paper. Yes, that's still a lot of money to a "billionaire", it's just not so astronomical to them as it is to us way way down here, far from them.
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Maybe not for the billionaire himself, but $650k probably buys the access needed from the grasping cronies he surrounds himself with.
I mean do you think he actually reads any of that shit they slide in front of him to sign? He has a crony say some words about what it allegedly is, then he scrawls his signature with a sharpie, and holds up the fancy leather-bound binder for the press. I have no doubt they could slip a pardon or two past the goalie for the right "gratuity."
Science fiction (Score:2)
Serious question... (Score:2)
What is the statute of limitations on crimes like these? How long will this kid have to hide before he escapes prosecution? I bet it's not that long...
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Federal wire fraud is 10 years. But it's moot because it's 10 years to start criminal proceedings, and the criminal proceedings have been started by filing charges. The case doesn't go away until it's either dropped or come to resolution in a criminal court. Or he dies.
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What is the statute of limitations on crimes like these? How long will this kid have to hide before he escapes prosecution? I bet it's not that long...
If he's out of the country, he'll have to wait forever. Tolling [wikipedia.org] pauses the statute of limitations for as long as someone is out of the jurisdiction specifically to prevent them from skipping out until they expire. This assumes proceedings haven't already been started; the statute of limitations is about time before being charged.
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This movie will end badly (Score:2)
embracing the controversial "Code is Law" philosophy
Ahhh, the computer nerd equivalent of the Sovereign Citizens movement. This boy's in for a shock when he tries to wheel out the Lawrence Lessig defense in a U.S. criminal court.
A new hire (Score:2)
Holy crap! (Score:2)
Canadians are retaliating hard on the US!
Good strategy (Score:3)
[he] is currently a fugitive from U.S. authorities. ... he has evaded capture by moving internationally, ...
This should work for a while as the U.S. is, by its own admission, powerless to get back someone they mistakenly deported to a prison in a foreign country -- a country the U.S. is paying to detain people -- even when the President of that country was literally sitting next to the U.S. President in the Oval Office (maybe simply asking would have been rude). So, trying to capture someone with money, and free to move about overseas is probably impossible.
Andean Medjedovic's biggest problem (Score:2)
What will he do with himself for the next 60 years ?
He is in his mid twenties, he has enough money to live an easy life. I assume that he will live to his 80s, He will be on many "wanted" lists and so cannot easily appear in public or go to visit places that many of us want to. He will be forever looking over his shoulder.
As he matures he might want a wife & kids. What is family life like hiding from view ?
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Roman Polanski was a darling of the Hollywood set and had many sympathizers in France due to their lackadaisical stance towards child sex. They refused to extradite:
https://www.grunge.com/901132/... [grunge.com]
The kid in question likely doesn't have any of the advantages enjoyed by Polanski. His only choice will be to hide in countries with no extradition treaty with the US or in countries with extradition treaties that don't cover finance crime.
Wrong target (Score:2)
"struck again" (Score:2)
he believed that because he had operated within the confines of the code, he was entitled to the funds ... Then, roughly two years later, he struck again, netting an even larger sum -- approximately $48.4-million -- by conducting a similar exploit on another decentralized finance platform
Crypto: A place where "struck again" is literally a euphemism for "used as designed".
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And I'm entirely OK with that defense, actually.
The whole point of crypto is that nobody is supposed to have any real authority and behavior is enforced by the code everyone agrees to use to keep track of transactions. Keep out the banks, keep out the regulators, etc.
Rather than prosecute this guy for being smarter than everyone else, the currency he exploited should fail from lack of user confidence. ...play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Crypto: a gigantic digital shell game (Score:2)
“Medjedovic borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars in digital tokens, which he used to engage in deceptive trading that he knew would cause the protocols’ smart contracts to falsely calculate key variables. Through his deceptive trades, Medjedovic was able to, and u
This is why the crypto bubble will pop (Score:2)
t he believed that because he had operated within the confines of the code, he was entitled to the funds -- a controversial philosophy in the world of decentralized finance known as "Code is Law.
Crypto jocks are known for thinking they can invent a whole new economy of their own. Now that they think they can invent a whole new moral system by which it's okay to steal, a world-ending rug pull has become inevitable. Popcorn!
Code is law (Score:1)
At the moment, in the US, even the law isn't the law, so I don't fancy his chances should he ever find himself in reach of American authorities (which nowadays could literally be anywhere).
Most countries operating a sort of 'common law' legal system tracing roots back to English law for example, have judges that will lean towards the 'spirit' of the law when adjudicating.
He'd better keep a very low profile.