Former Pump.fun senior developer Jarett Dunn finds himself in a London prison after violating his bail conditions while awaiting trial for the theft of approximately $2 million from the launchpad in May 2024, according to reports.
Originally hailing from Canada, Dunn had initially admitted to the fraud charges but is now seeking to retract his plea, facing a potential sentence of at least seven years behind bars. This development comes at a time when his former employer has seen a significant transformation, emerging as one of the crypto industry’s most successful platforms. Recently, the company completed a $600 million initial coin offering and surpassed $770 million in lifetime revenue.
The Theft and Its Aftermath
Dunn’s breach of Pump.fun occurred during a short six-week stint at the company in May 2024. Exploiting his access to private keys, he siphoned funds from bonding curve contracts, resulting in the theft of SOL tokens valued at around $2 million. These tokens were meant to be transferred to the Raydium decentralized exchange but were instead diverted to unrelated wallet addresses.
Rather than hoarding the stolen funds, Dunn opted to distribute them to random wallet addresses through airdrops. He selected holders of various Solana tokens and NFTs as unwitting recipients of his ill-gotten gains. This incident prompted Pump.fun to temporarily halt its operations while conducting an investigation into the breach and cooperating with law enforcement.
Shortly after executing the exploit, Dunn took to Twitter to claim responsibility, posting erratic messages about his actions and motivations. During a subsequent Twitter Spaces session, he expressed his disdain for the platform he targeted, citing personal grievances and a desire to disrupt Pump.fun’s operations.
After initially pleading guilty to the fraud charges in October 2024, Dunn later sought to withdraw his plea during what was supposed to be his sentencing hearing. His legal team subsequently abandoned the case, leaving him to navigate the legal proceedings on his own. Living in London under bail conditions that included movement restrictions and electronic monitoring, Dunn breached his bail terms by relocating to Liverpool without authorization in early June 2025. This violation led to his arrest and subsequent confinement at HMP Pentonville in London as he awaits a formal hearing to withdraw his guilty plea.
The Growing Epidemic of Crypto Insider Attacks
Dunn’s case is part of a concerning trend of insider threats within the cryptocurrency sector, where employees with privileged access leverage their positions for personal gain or ideological reasons. Recent incidents include Coinbase rejecting a $20 million ransom demand in May 2025 after overseas support staff were bribed to leak user data, and Pond.fun falling victim to a hack in March 2025 allegedly carried out by its lead software engineer.
South Korea has also seen a rise in insider attacks, sentencing an illegal XRP exchange operator to eight years in prison for defrauding investors of $3.4 million. Despite the success of Pump.fun, the platform has faced criticism for allegedly enabling pump-and-dump schemes and employing questionable promotional strategies.
As Pump.fun continues to evolve and solidify its position as a prominent player in the crypto space, the industry must remain vigilant against insider threats and take proactive measures to safeguard against similar incidents in the future.