A 22-year-old Canadian man with ties to Waterloo Region has been accused by U.S. authorities of stealing US$65 million from two cryptocurrency platforms.
The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment on Monday that alleges that Andean Medjedovic exploited vulnerabilities in the protocols for KyberSwap and Indexed Finance to make off with millions of dollars in digital tokens.
“Through his deceptive trades, Medjedovic was able to, and ultimately did, withdraw millions of dollars of investor funds from the protocols at artificial prices, rendering the victims’ investments essentially worthless,” a release from U.S. authorities said.
There was a civil trial involving Medjedovic and Indexed Finance in Ontario in 2021, which says he graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in civil engineering at the age of 19.
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While he did make one appearance in connection with the cryptocurrency trial, Justice Fred Myers has issued a warrant for his arrest after he went into “hiding.”
“I am concerned that Mr. Medjedovic is possibly making poor choices out of fear given the doxxing and threats he has received,” the judge noted in the court documents. “I am hopeful that he is not choosing at age 19 to live a fugitive’s life forsaking his family and a potentially brilliant career.”
In the release on Monday, the Department of Justice alleged that after the initial incident involving KyberSwap, Medjedovic turned around and attempted to extort the victims, offering to take control of the platform.
The 22-year-old has also been accused of money laundering in an attempt to clean the proceeds of his previous exploits but he ended up unknowingly working with a federal agent, according to the indictment.
The feds also got ahold of some of his communications where he talks about a need to go underground.
Medjedovic is said to have messaged another user, saying, “I did something very cool but accidentally doxxed myself in the process. I may be on the run forever now…Need some advice about becoming a pirate.”
The Department of Justice said Medjedovic is facing a number of charges, including wire fraud, unauthorized damage to a protected computer, attempted Hobbs Act extortion, money laundering conspiracy and laundering.
If convicted on all charges, the 22-year-old could be facing up to 90 years in prison.
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