A Hamilton teenager who stole $ 48 million in cryptocurrency from a U.S. businessman, what police say was the biggest hacking of a single victim, will not spend more time in detention, but has been banned from manipulating digital assets for one year.
The young man, who was 17 at the time of the crime in 2020 and cannot be named under the Canada Juvenile Justice Act, had reached an agreement with prosecutors and was released on parole on Friday. of one year with the condition of not making transactions in cryptocurrency during that period.
The international case covered several agencies, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Secret Service, and highlights the unique security issues and growing prominence of digital assets in today’s online world.
The teen pleaded guilty to a felony theft of more than $ 5,000. In a joint filing accepted by Judge Joe Fiorucci in a Hamilton court, the defense and prosecution recommended not going to jail, in part because of the year the young man had already been detained.
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Defense attorney Luka Rados told the court that her client has struggled with anxiety and other mental health issues and has had to drop out of traditional school. But now he is about to finish high school and finally wants to work in cybersecurity.
“Someone who has been involved in a massive cryptocurrency hack and is now becoming a security expert is a suitable way for this case to be completed,” Rados said.
The teenager, who has been on bail, appeared in front of the remote court, with the computer screen away from the audience. He apologized directly to the victim: California businessman and investor Josh Jones.
“I intend to move only in a positive direction,” he said.
The court learned that it was possible the young man had worked with someone else, but it was unclear whether authorities were moving forward on the matter.
About 94 bitcoins, worth approximately $ 2.5 million, would be returned to the victim. It remains to be seen how much of the $ 48 million can be recovered.
Hamilton police announced in November that they had arrested the teenager for an attack called a “SIM exchange,” in which the perpetrators tricked telecommunications companies into transferring victims’ cell phone numbers to the SIM cards they control. Access to a cell phone number often allows access to other accounts, including email, logins often rely on two-factor text message authentication.
The authors are usually young men who spend a lot of time in insular online cultures. They sometimes steal short or one-word usernames, which indicate early adoption, and can have strength and sell for thousands of dollars. Sometimes they also look for cryptocurrency passwords, whose transactions are considered irreversible.
Often, however, the SIM exchange is aimed at celebrities and is done just for fun.
Hamilton’s teenager has no criminal record. But he had been exchanging SIMs since at least 2016 and has connections to many high-profile hackers, according to his chat logs, which The Globe and Mail obtained from a confidential source.
The Globe does not name the source because they were not authorized to disclose this information.
Details of the young man’s background were first reported by Toronto Life.
Family court records show he was raised largely by his mother after his parents separated in the midst of financial trouble.
Mr Rados said on Friday that the case had a “silver lining”: the young man’s renewed relationship with his father, who had moved. “After [the teen] was charged and jailed, [his] the father was in charge of returning to Ontario, rescuing his son and being there as a father. “
The victim of the case, Mr. Jones, was one of the first investors in Bitcoin and has had his hands on web hosting, aviation and animation. A podcast describes him as the “richest, silliest, safest but normal-looking person who was a pioneer of Bitcoin.”
The court learned that Hamilton’s teenager took control of Mr. Jones’ phone number on the T-Mobile network, entered his email, and was then able to access his cryptocurrency wallet on Blockchain.com.
Hamilton police, who initially set the stolen amount at $ 46 million, said the young man was identified as the hacker after the stolen cryptocurrency was used to buy a username considered rare in the community. of games and linked to an address. The Globe source identified the PlayStation Network username as “God.”
Mr. Rados told the court the subsequent arrest was “highly dynamic” and “aggressive,” with police kicking the teen’s door. “The memory of that night is etched in the teen’s mind and has been the cause of some post-event stress.”
Hamilton police have declined to give further details on the harsh response to a nonviolent crime.
Records obtained from another police force through a request for freedom of information show that the young man had been the target of at least one attempt at “pope”, in which a prankster calls a false threat to the address from another person to get a response from a tactical team. Sometimes people are hit as a result of disputes in online circles.
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