Maryland man found guilty of stealing $50 million in cryptocurrency

A federal court jury in Manhattan on Wednesday found a Maryland man guilty of hacking a cryptocurrency exchange and stealing more than $50 million.

Jonathan Spalletta, 36, of Rockville, was convicted on one count of computer fraud and one count of money laundering for hacking the Uranium Finance exchange twice in 2021, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a news release.

In his first hack on April 8, 2021, Spalletta manipulated the exchange's smart contract program to make unauthorized transactions, withdrawing about $1.4 million in cryptocurrency.

Spalletta told another person in writing about the heist two weeks later, saying he exploited a bug in the program and "'crypto is all fake internet money anyway,'" prosecutors said.

Spalletta later extorted Uranium Finance into making a deal in which he would keep about $386,000 in exchange for avoiding prosecution and return the remainder of the stolen cryptocurrency.

On April 28, 2021, Spalletta exploited another error in the smart contract program and fraudulently withdrew $53.3 million in cryptocurrency. Bereft of funds, Uranium Finance proceeded to shut down entirely, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that after stealing the money and laundering it through other cryptocurrency transactions, Spalletta bought collectibles, including:

• A copy of the "Magic: The Gathering" trading card "Black Lotus" ($500,000).

• 18 sealed packs of the first "Magic: The Gathering" set (more than $1.5 million).

• A complete first edition base set of Pokemon trading cards (about $750,000).

• A sealed box of first edition Pokemon cards (more than $257,000).

• An ancient Roman coin celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar (more than $600,000).

• A piece of fabric from the first Wright brothers airplane that was taken to the moon by Neil Armstrong (more than $137,000).

Authorities seized the collectibles, along with roughly $31 million in cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors did not say when Spalletta is to be sentenced. He faces up to 10 years in prison on the fraud charge and up to 20 years in prison on the money laundering charge.

Anyone who believes they were a victim of the hacking of the Uranium Finance exchange should email UraniumVictims@hsi.dhs.gov, prosecutors said.

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