Canadian National Charged With Stealing $65 Million in Crypto From Two DeFi Protocols

This week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment charging Canadian national Andean “Andy” Medjedovic with stealing approximately $65 million in cryptocurrency from two decentralized finance protocols in 2023. According to the indictment, Medjedovic manipulated smart contracts draining liquidity from the protocols. He then laundered the proceeds through multiple transactions to obscure the source of the stolen funds. His actions defrauded thousands of investors and undermined the integrity of decentralized financial markets.

IRS-Criminal Investigations, New York (IRS-CI), the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, investigated this case with assistance from the Netherlands’ Public Prosecution Service and the Dutch National Police’s Cybercrime Unit in The Hague and United States Customs and Border Protection, New York Field Office. The case is being prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York with support from DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and Fraud Section.

TRM Labs is proud to have supported law enforcement in this investigation. 

According to prosecutors, Medjedovic’s scheme centered on exploiting vulnerabilities in smart contracts. The indictment states that he "knowingly and intentionally devised and executed a scheme and artifice to defraud DeFi protocols" by taking advantage of their automated systems to extract large sums of cryptocurrency. Specifically, he manipulated pricing mechanisms and flash loans, using rapid, high-frequency transactions to artificially adjust asset valuations within liquidity pools. This allowed him to withdraw more assets than he was entitled to, effectively draining the pools and leaving legitimate users with massive losses.

The indictment further reveals that Medjedovic communicated openly online about his intentions, posting in various forums and social media platforms about his knowledge of vulnerabilities in smart contract protocols. In one instance, he boasted about his technical capabilities and the weaknesses he had identified. Prosecutors, in the indictment, assert that his statements reflect a premeditated intent to defraud rather than an accidental or opportunistic exploit. According to the indictment, “the defendant engaged in a calculated scheme to illicitly obtain cryptocurrency, knowing that his actions would cause significant financial harm to others.”

After executing the attack, Medjedovic allegedly attempted to launder the stolen funds by routing transactions through multiple cryptocurrency exchanges and mixing services, making it more difficult for authorities to track and recover the assets. Despite these efforts, law enforcement agencies—using blockchain intelligence—were able to trace his movements on the blockchain and identify illicit flows of funds. The indictment emphasizes that “by utilizing advanced blockchain tracing techniques, investigators were able to follow the movement of stolen assets and link them back to the defendant.”

The case underscores the growing sophistication of financial crime involving cryptocurrencies, as well as law enforcement’s ability to investigate and prosecute these complex schemes. Medjedovic faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer, extortionate means of obtaining property, and money laundering. If convicted, he could face significant prison time.