Teen Has ‘Strong Incentives to Flee’ After Pleading Guilty to $245M Bitcoin Heist, Gov Says

The U.S. government is opposing the release of a 19-year-old after he pled guilty in November to a $245 million Bitcoin heist. The government argued that the teenager’s co-conspirators may help him flee the country before his sentencing so that he wouldn’t testify against them.

Recently unsealed court documents reveal that Veer Chatel pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C. court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, in connection with a Bitcoin scam that took place in 2024.

According to the plea agreement, he faces 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison, a potential fine between $50,000 to $500,000, and has been forced to forfeit items that were bought with proceeds from the offenses.

The heist was carried out by socially engineering victims into leaking their private keys via a screensharing service and sending their crypto funds from the Gemini exchange to a compromised wallet, on-chain detective involved in the case ZachXBT explained.

3/ Here is a private video recording showing the live reaction by multiple of the threat actors to receiving $238M.

Theft txn hash
4064 BTC – Aug 19 at 4:05 am UTC
4b277ba298830ea538086114803b9487558bb093b5083e383e94db687fbe9090 pic.twitter.com/djSxBTkOF8

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024

One victim lost approximately $245 million in Bitcoin due to the sophisticated social engineering attack, court documents say. A week after the theft, Chatel’s parents were assaulted and kidnapped in a failed ransom attempt.

According to court documents unsealed last week, Chatel’s role in the heist was to call potential victims pretending to be technical support from major companies, assure them of his legitimacy, and convince the victim to click on the account access request from a co-conspirator.

Chatel laundered his funds using “trusted professional launderers,” the documents state, alongside his conspirators. Conspirators Chatel, Malone Lam, and Jeandiel Serrano then lived a luxurious life with the stolen funds, court documents and ZachXBT allege. The teen used his funds to purchase watches, designer clothes, and multiple cars.

In searching Chatel’s house, the Federal Bureau of Investigation found $37 million in stolen crypto connected to the $245 million heist. The document also claims he had defrauded approximately 50 other victims, netting $3 million in personal proceeds.

On Sunday, the government opposed Chatel’s motion for release as he awaits his sentencing.

“Considering the status of the case and the impending substantial prison sentence, Mr. Chetal has strong incentives to flee and little motivation to stay,” the document reads. “Any one of the uncharged co-conspirators, including those involved in the October 2024 theft, could easily pay for Mr. Chetal to flee the country in an effort to avoid him testifying against [them].”

That said, the government commends Chatel’s admission and apology for the crime.

Last month, 12 individuals were charged in connection with the heist—on top of Lam and Serrano, who were also arrested and charged last year. It appears the government believes there may be more conspirators out there who have yet to be charged.

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