Russian-Israeli National Arrested Over U.S. Crypto Hack Allegations

A dual citizen of Israel and Russia has been arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport as he allegedly attempted to flee to Russia using a passport with a different last name.

The suspect, identified as 47-year-old Alexander Gurevich, is now facing extradition to the United States, where he is accused of involvement in a major cryptocurrency hack.

Gurevich’s arrest marks the first public identification of the primary suspect behind a 2022 breach that nearly crippled a California-based blockchain firm.

The arrest comes after a formal extradition request was filed by U.S. authorities.

According to the request, Gurevich allegedly carried out the hack with the aim of extorting cryptocurrency from the company and laundering the stolen funds.

Over the course of several months, the hacker, who is said to be Gurevich, threatened to shut down the company’s blockchain network unless they paid a ransom of $60 million in cryptocurrency.

The hacker also allegedly drained nearly $350 million from the company’s cryptocurrency wallets and attempted to launder the stolen funds through a complex network of cryptocurrency exchanges and privacy coins.

These actions posed a severe threat to the targeted company’s operations and to broader investor confidence, officials said.

The case is still ongoing, and authorities in both countries are working together to process the case and uncover more details about the scope of the alleged attack.