Charges Unveiled in Massive JPMorgan Hack, Illegal Bitcoin Exchange

US prosecutors have formally charged three men accused of running a massive criminal enterprise that included last year's hacking of JPMorgan data, a stock pumping scheme and an illegal Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term.

Gery Shalon and Ziv Orenstein were arrested in Israel in July, and a third, Joshua Samuel Aaron, who resided intermittently in both the US and Israel, remains at large in Russia, out of reach from US authorities.

Charges in the cases include computer hacking, securities and wire fraud, identity theft, illegal Internet gambling and conspiring to commit money laundering.

Shalon and Aaron allegedly stole the data of 83 million JPMorgan customers last year in the largest such theft from a financial institution in US history. They allegedly carried out the attack through a server in Egypt.

"By any measure, the data breaches at these firms were breathtaking in scope and in size," said US Attorney Preet Bharara.

In a separate indictment in Atlanta, Shalon, Aaron and an unnamed defendant are accused of compromising the personal information of over 10 million customers at stock brokerages including E*Trade Financial, Scotttrade, TD Ameritrade and Fidelity Investments, as well as News Corp's Dow Jones unit.

The information, used to cold-call brokerage clients, allegedly led to the manipulation of stock prices and the defendants profiting tens of millions of dollars. Aaron, considered the "front man" in the scheme by the FBI, is the subject of an FBI "wanted" poster.

In a seemingly separate case, Anthony Murgio was also arrested in Florida in July and charged with illegally running a bitcoin exchange, Coin.mx. A co-defendent in the case, Yuri Lebedev, is in "discussions" with prosecutors, said Bharara.

However, the aforementioned Shalon is also accused of running the exchange, which may have been used to launder proceeds gained through the other alleged crimes. According to a Bloomberg report, Murgio and Aaron were reportedly friends dating back to their days at Florida State University.

Shalon is also accused of concealing at least $100 million in Swiss and other accounts, and along with Orenstein, ran payment processors IDPay and Todur, collecting $18 million in fees to process hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions on behalf of criminals.

They are also accused of running at least 12 illegal online casinos since 2007.

Bharara presented visual diagrams of the elaborate crime network at a press conference in Manhattan on Tuesday.