Is defeating Bots not considered fraud or theft? The highly educated brothers claim they stole 25 million Crypto Assets.

In a lightning-fast crypto assets theft case described by prosecutors as unprecedented, two brothers, graduates of MIT, formally stood trial on Tuesday at the federal court in Manhattan, New York, according to Business Insider. They are accused of stealing crypto assets worth $25 million in just 12 seconds. 25-year-old Anton Peraire-Bueno hails from Boston, while 29-year-old James Peraire-Bueno resides in New York. The brothers are charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. However, the brothers insist they are not criminals but highly skilled players. Their defense attorney claims that the case is not about fraud but rather a fair competition, as they merely outsmarted predatory crypto assets trading bots.

Highly knowledgeable juries adjudicate smart crimes

The court in this case has attracted public attention not only for the case itself but also because the jury hearing this tech crime has been carefully selected by the prosecution to consist of highly educated intellectuals. After a full day of selection, the court chose a jury made up of eight men and four women, all of whom have university degrees, with half holding master's degrees in fields such as finance, science, education, and medicine. The prosecution will explain to the jury how the two brothers used a series of complex transactions to convert the assets held by three crypto asset traders into worthless tokens. This group of middle-aged or retired individuals will face complex evidence and blockchain technology for discussion.

Spent months searching online for how to engage in Money Laundering.

According to the prosecution, the attack that took place in April 2023 was meticulously planned for months. The brothers targeted vulnerabilities in the trading mechanism on the Ethereum blockchain, transferring large amounts of funds within 12 seconds by precisely timing their transactions and using Bots. The prosecution pointed out that before and after the incident, the brothers had searched multiple times for information related to fraud and Money Laundering, including “how to launder money,” “top Crypto Assets lawyers,” “fraudulent Ethereum address databases,” and “statutes of limitations for Money Laundering lawsuits.” The prosecution believes that these search records indicate they had criminal intent before taking action. Additionally, government documents revealed that the two attempted to conceal the flow of funds and their identities through a series of shell companies, anonymous wallets, and overseas exchanges.

Defense: This is not theft, it is a duel between algorithms.

The two brothers have currently been released on bail of $250,000 each. The defense lawyer emphasized that their clients had no direct or indirect interaction with the so-called “victims,” who actually lost assets because their own designed Bots algorithms were exploited. “This is a digital gambling strategy in an unregulated market, not fraud,” the defense previously argued in a motion. However, this motion was denied. The judge also prohibited the defense from presenting the argument that “the victims brought it upon themselves” in court and did not allow defense experts to comment on the issue of “the lack of regulation in the crypto market.” This case is occurring at a time when the U.S. government is strengthening its enforcement framework for Crypto Assets. Despite Trump introducing many new crypto regulations, this case highlights that blockchain technology may still be operated in a gray area by highly knowledgeable individuals. The case is expected to continue hearings until early November, with several government witnesses set to testify in the coming weeks.

This article discusses whether defeating Bots is considered fraud or theft? The highly educated brothers claimed that they stole 25 million Crypto Assets, first appearing in Chain News ABMedia.