Teen in $245M Bitcoin heist loses bond after new $2M crypto theft, unsealed court docs show

A 19-year-old man from Danbury, Connecticut pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges in connection with a widely publicized $245 million Bitcoin theft from a single Genesis creditor in August, 2024. 

Yet, after agreeing to cooperate with authorities and testify against his co-defendants, the man was then re-detained after authorities discovered an additional $2 million theft, newly unsealed court documents allege. 

Teen pleaded guilty after $245 million theft

Veer Chetal, known as "Wiz," was secretly charged in November 2024 in connection with the theft alongside two co-defendants, Malone Lam, 20, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21. The three had reportedly met on an online Minecraft server. Details of Chetal's legal proceedings were hidden from the public until last week, when a federal district judge in Washington ordered the documents unsealed. 

The unsealed documents reveal that Chetal pleaded guilty to two charges in connection with the theft and forfeited a wide array of luxury items, including almost 30 designer watches, a variety of high-end clothing, and over $36 million of ETH (at current value). Chetal also agreed to cooperate with authorities in their case against Lam and Serrano, according to the plea agreement, which exposed him to between 19 and 24 years in prison according to federal sentencing guidelines. 

Though Chetal was released on bond, he was re-arrested in late January, 2025, after federal authorities discovered Chetal had engaged in additional crimes while supposedly cooperating with authorities and had discussed traveling to India or Dubai in violation of the court's order. 

Of note is a $2 million social engineering theft allegedly involving Chetal while he was released on October 21, 2024. Someone allegedly targeted a New Jersey resident, telling her that they were a Gemini exchange support member and convincing her to turn over the seed phrase to her crypto wallet. Blockchain tracing showed the funds moving to an online gambling account and to the exchange eXch, a non-KYC exchange favored by illicit actors. 

Though Chetal allegedly used a VPN to access the account where $200,000 worth of the stolen funds wound up, "...on one of the six occasions, within 40 minutes of account opening and 30 minutes of receiving the stolen funds, the account VPN network 'failed' and the true IP address leaked," investigators wrote. The IP was traced to Chetal's mother, and phone records acquired from T-Mobile placed Chetal at the scene.

Chetal didn't hold on to the funds for long, however. 

"Chetal admits that, even after he began negotiating with the Government, he secured $200,000 in illicit funds with a simple text message," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in her decision to deny Chetal's request to be re-released on bond. "That sum was so trivial to Chetal that he gambled and lost all $200,000 on a single bet nine minutes later."

Judge Kollar-Kotelly also deemed Chetal a flight risk given his lack of U.S. citizenship and his apparent desire to travel abroad to India or Dubai. Defense filings show he booked an Indian university entrance exam and asked friends about colleges in Dubai after pleading guilty.

"The Court is now presented with a defendant lacking citizenship, a visa, a job, college enrollment, or any ties to the United States whatsoever," Department of Justice prosecutors wrote in their request to re-arrest Chetal. "He has no incentive to stay in the United States and every incentive to flee."

Chetal's lawyer declined to comment on the case to the AP, saying Chetal's case is still pending. 

Chetal's parents kidnapped following original theft

A week after the original $245 million theft, Chetal's parents were targeted in a kidnapping attempt by a group of six masked men. The plot was soon foiled by Danbury police officers, who arrested the suspects and rescued Chetal's parents, still bound and injured. Chetal's father had severe facial and arm injuries; he reportedly lost his job at Morgan Stanley in the wake of the incident. 

The conspiracy’s alleged mastermind was James Schwab, 22, of Georgia, who was not present at the scene but had orchestrated the plot from afar. "Schwab, who had an altercation with the victims’ son in a Miami nightclub in July 2024, was in regular communication with certain of the kidnappers in the days before the crime, provided funding for it, and helped arrange the participants’ transportation and lodging," a DoJ press release said. 

Schwab pleaded not guilty to the charge, though five of the six kidnappers have pleaded guilty, according to the press release. Federal investigators also alleged Schwab had previously attempted to contract one of the men to shoot Chetal before the kidnapping attempt. Schwab later allegedly changed his mind, attempting to rob Chetal rather than murdering him. 

One of the kidnapping suspects, Anthony Pena, was sentenced in May to 11 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges. The four other suspects who pleaded guilty have not yet been sentenced; the lone holdout, Reynaldo Diaz, has a trial date in late September.