Two brothers charged with stealing $25 million worth of Ethereum launched a novel legal defense in federal court this week: Their case must be dismissed immediately, so they say, because new DOJ crypto policies imply the property they’re accused of stealing can’t really be considered property in the first place.
Last spring, the DOJ accused Anton and James Pepaire-Bueno, two MIT-educated coding whizzes, of exploiting the process by which the Ethereum network validates transactions to steal millions of dollars worth of ETH from traders. The brothers were initially charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They were later additionally charged with conspiracy to receive stolen property.
This week, the brothers’…
Jan 14 2026
