Two MIT-educated brothers are set to face trial after being accused of orchestrating the largest MEV bot exploitation in cryptocurrency history. Anton Peraire-Bueno, 24, and James Peraire-Bueno, 28, allegedly stole $25 million in cryptocurrency within a mere 12 seconds by manipulating Ethereum’s MEV-Boost protocol back in April 2023.
The brothers meticulously planned their operation over several months, studying trading patterns of Ethereum bots and even going as far as establishing shell companies to carry out their scheme. They created 16 Ethereum validators using approximately $880,000 in cryptocurrency, then executed what prosecutors described as a “bait, block, search, and propagation” scheme targeting three victim traders operating MEV bots.
Their exploit involved proposing “lure transactions” to entice victim traders’ bots into purchasing illiquid cryptocurrencies worth $25 million. The brothers then sent a false signature to the relay system, gaining premature access to private transaction data. Subsequently, they replaced the lure transactions with their own trades, selling the illiquid tokens and rendering the victims’ holdings worthless.
Following the theft, the brothers engaged in complex transactions across multiple addresses and foreign exchanges with limited KYC requirements to launder the stolen funds. They converted the cryptocurrency to DAI stablecoin, then to USDC, before transferring $20 million to U.S. dollar accounts. However, foreign law enforcement managed to freeze $3 million of the stolen funds.
The case comes at a time of increasing concerns surrounding MEV exploitation across blockchain networks. Recent incidents include a $2 million insider attack on Bedrock’s UniBTC protocol by a former Fuzzland employee and a notorious Solana MEV bot named “arsc” that accumulated $30 million in two months through sandwich attacks.
Federal prosecutors arrested the Peraire-Bueno brothers on May 15, 2024, with Anton apprehended in Boston and James in New York. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams highlighted the meticulous planning of the scheme, emphasizing how the brothers “used their specialized skills and education to tamper with and manipulate the protocols relied upon by millions of Ethereum users.”
The brothers are facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, each carrying a potential 20-year prison sentence. Their trial has been scheduled for October 14, 2025, after their attempts to dismiss the indictment were rejected by a federal judge.
The court deemed the wire fraud charges legally sufficient, ruling that the brothers’ lure transactions and false signatures constituted material misrepresentations. Furthermore, the judge determined that the $25 million in stolen cryptocurrency represented a traditionally recognized property interest, not just contingent profits.
Despite the sophisticated laundering efforts put forth by the brothers, IRS Criminal Investigation’s New York Cyber Unit managed to trace the stolen funds back to them. Special Agent Thomas Fattorusso emphasized how investigators were able to “simply follow the money” using cutting-edge technology and traditional investigative methods.
MEV exploitation has become a pressing issue for blockchain scalability, with recent research from Flashbots showing that MEV bots now consume 40% of all blockspace on Solana and over half of the gas usage on Ethereum rollups like Base and OP Mainnet.
The Peraire-Bueno case marks the first criminal prosecution of MEV manipulation, shedding light on the growing threats posed by similar exploits across various networks. The trial, scheduled for October, is expected to set precedents for future MEV-related prosecutions and may provide insights into addressing MEV abuse in the cryptocurrency space.