Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT alleges three attackers involved in $243 million theft of single Genesis creditor

Quick Take

  • In an “incident summary,” ZachXBT alleges that on Aug. 19, 2024, three alleged perpetrators stole $243 million from a single unnamed individual.
  • The blockchain sleuth said the Federal Bureau of Investigations raided homes in Miami and LA on Wednesday evening in connection to his investigation. 

The Federal Bureau of Investigations raided a luxury home in Miami thought to belong to a cryptocurrency insider following an investigation by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT into an alleged $243 million heist. 

According to Miami's 7News, the agency conducted a “court-ordered law enforcement activity” on a home Wednesday, with the agents reportedly firing off flashbangs in the house while equipped with “heavy artillery.” However, the TV station did not mention any connection to any cryptocurrency theft. 

Although it remains unclear who the home belonged to at the time of reporting, ZachXBT, known for his frequent investigations of alleged crypto frauds, posted a long thread on Thursday detailing what he calls “one of my best investigations of all time.”

In an “incident summary,” ZachXBT alleges that on Aug. 19, 2024, three alleged perpetrators — Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) — stole $243 million from a single unnamed individual said to be a creditor of bankrupt lending firm Genesis in a complicated social engineering attack. 

ZachXBT writes that the claimed attackers tricked the victim by pretending to be representatives of Google and the Gemini crypto exchange to gain access to his accounts and reset their security systems. They then allegedly gained access to his private keys to transfer 4,064 BTC to an account controlled by the attackers.

“An initial tracing showed $243M split multiple ways between each party before funds quickly peeled off to 15+ exchanges immediately swapping back and forth between Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero,” ZachXBT alleges. 

However, in leaked videos supposedly happening in real-time of the attack and subsequent efforts to conceal the stolen funds, the alleged attackers revealed their identities and money laundering scheme. It is unclear how ZachXBT gained access to these videos or the multiple chat records from Telegram and Discord he cites.

When asked on X about the provenance of the evidence, ZachXBT said “​​Some things are better left unsaid.”

Web3 forensics experts Cryptoforensic Investigators and zeroShadow allegedly worked with ZachXBT, the victim and Binance Security to recover some of the funds. 

ZachXBT said that as a result of the investigation, Serrano and Iam were arrested Wednesday evening in Miami and LA. However, The Block has not yet been able to turn up arrest records for either case in Miami-Dade County or the County of Los Angeles.


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About Author

Daniel Kuhn is a Senior Journalist and Editor at The Block, where he covers the crypto industry with a particular focus on tech. He previously served as deputy managing editor of opinion/features at CoinDesk. He first appeared in print in Financial Planning, a trade publication magazine. Before journalism, he studied philosophy as an undergrad, English literature in graduate school and business and economic reporting at an NYU professional program. You can connect with him on Twitter and Telegram @danielgkuhn or find him on Urbit as ~dorrys-lonreb.

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