US hacker faces 20-year prison sentence over $37m crypto theft

Evan Frederick Light, 21, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison after stealing $37 million worth of crypto from an investment holdings company located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The U.S Department of Justice stated in a press release on Oct. 1, that Light was charged with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments.

The maximum penalty for each indictment is 20 years in custody and/or a fine, three years of supervised release, and a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

In Feb., 2022, Light hacked into an investment firm’s computer servers to access customer information and steal cryptocurrencies from 600 clients with the help of an unidentified accomplice.

Light used the identity of the investment holdings’ clients and used that information to infiltrate the company’s servers. After successfully accessing the computer servers, he was able to access the accounts of hundreds of other clients to steal their digital assets listed in the investment holdings company.

The stolen cryptocurrency was then distributed to various locations across different parts of the world, including multiple mixing services and gambling sites. All this was done in the hopes of erasing his digital footprint, making the funds difficult to trace back.

U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell said that this case shows the continued commitment of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI to battling cybercrime, especially in relation to the rapid development of digital assets.

“Today’s guilty verdicts should serve as a reminder that this Office and its law enforcement partners will bring cyber criminals to justice, regardless how sophisticated their crimes may be,” said Ramsdell in the release.

According to a recent FBI report published on Sep. 9, Americans have lost over $5.6 billion in crypto scams in 2023.

In 2023, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 69,000 reports of financial fraud involving cryptocurrencies, mainly Bitcoin(BTC), Ethereum(ETH) and Tether(USDT).