Judge declares mistrial in case of MIT brothers accused of $25M crypto heist

U.S. District Judge Jessica G.L. Clarke in Manhattan declared a mistrial in the case of two brothers with ties to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The two brothers, Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Peraire-Bueno, were charged with fraud for a 12-second Ethereum blockchain transaction that generated $25 million.

On Friday, Clarke stated that the $25 million heist exploited the integrity of the ETH blockchain. 

The Manhattan judge sent jurors home after the jury could not agree on whether to condemn or acquit the two brothers on accusations of carrying out a first-of-its-kind wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

MIT brothers accused of manipulating ETH blockchain transactions

The fraud was first announced on May 15, 2025, by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

According to a release by the U.S. Department of Justice, both brothers studied computer science at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they acquired the abilities necessary for their trading method.

James graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics with a focus on Computer Science and Aerospace Engineering. His brother Anton received a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering in 2024. 

Two years later, James earned his master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics.

At the beginning of the brothers’ fraud trial last week, defense attorneys and federal prosecutors presented radically contrasting depictions of the MIT brothers. Defense attorneys raised a question for a Manhattan jury.

Are the brothers cunning con artists who tricked other traders’ bots into purchasing useless “shitcoins” for a multimillion-dollar score, or are they intelligent “nerds” with amusing online personas and a “wildly successful” cryptocurrency trading strategy?

On October 15, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Nees, in his opening remarks, charged the brothers with using a “high-speed bait-and-switch.” Nees accused them of using the high-speed bait-and-switch tactic to trick trading bots into falling into a trap and emptying the accounts of other cryptocurrency traders.

As previously reported by Cryptopolitan, the court filings revealed that the brothers allegedly plotted for months to change and tamper with the procedures used to verify transactions for inclusion on the ETH blockchain. The Ethereum blockchain is a public ledger that tracks every cryptocurrency transaction. 

The prosecutors added that the brothers managed to verify transactions by exploiting a flaw in the MEV-boost software code. 

Software code is used by the majority of the ETH network’s “validators,” who are responsible for verifying the legitimacy of new transactions before they are added to the blockchain.

“Then the brothers planted a trade that looked like one thing from the outside, but ‍was secretly something else. Then, just as the defendants planned, the victims took the bait.”

-Ryan T. Nees, Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Katherine Trefz, James Peraire-Bueno’s attorney at Williams & Connolly, countered that the brothers’ trading method was not only innovative but also legal. Trefz added that the trade was consistent with the principles at play in this very competitive trading environment.

MIT brothers’ crypto startup faces legal battle

Trefz described in her opening remarks at their trial on Wednesday that the brothers as “true nerds.”

Trefz claimed that the two brothers began trading cryptocurrencies on the ETH network in early 2021. She added that James used $200 worth of spare computer parts to construct their first ETH node in his apartment close to MIT.

“What drew them to this trading environment was its competitive and innovative aspects.”

-Katherine A. Trefz, Partner at Williams & Connolly LLP.

On Friday, a former employee testified that the brothers eventually established 18 Decimals, a bitcoin trading company. Prosecutors said it employed at least two people.

Anton’s defense attorney, William Fick, claimed in his opening statement that the brothers profited greatly using the BTC trading company while other traders suffered huge losses.

According to Fick, the brothers fought “predatory” trading bots that use “sandwich attacks” to benefit by trapping another trader’s move between their own in an effort to remedy the wrongs of the cryptocurrency industry.

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