The Italian police charged a man who operated a cryptocurrency exchange of being liable for a series of attacks that triggered millions of damages as part of the supposed mega fraud scheme.
Italian Authorities Accuse Bitgrail Owner of Faking Hacks That Led Exchange’s Bankruptcy
According to Reuters, the 34-year-old from Florence is identified by his initials F.F. And the maker of Bitgrail, a crypto corporation that was declared bankrupt in 2019, is accused of having faked a cyber assault that defrauded more than 230,000 people carrying nano coins, a crypto released in 2015.
The series of suspected fake hacks allegedly culminated in damages of EUR 120 million ($146 million) and the suspect was charged with computer fraud, false bankruptcy and money laundering.
In a release, the Italian authorities said that such an event might be classified as the "biggest cyber-financial attack in Italy and one of the largest in the world."
The summary information F.F. In February 2018, Ivano Gabrielli, director of the National Center for Cyber Crimes (CNAIPIC), began to believe that the 34-year-old man had been involved in the incident and confirmed the loss of a "huge" sum of nano coins.
Statement by the authorities adds:
For the first time in Italy and in Europe, we have documented fraudulent and rapacious conduct to the detriment of investors carried out entirely on IT platforms and via the use of virtual currencies.
Did F.F. Participate Actively in the Hacks?
However, Gabrielli stated that it was not yet clear whether F.F. participated actively in the theft “or if he simply decided not to increase security measures after discovering it,” as the police believed it would have been easy to prevent the theft in a first instance.
Back on January 21, 2019, F.F. was sentenced by the Italian Bankruptcy Court to return as much of the assets to his customers as possible.
The Italian authorities also managed to seize over $1 million in personal assets, including his car.
