Maryland Consultant on Trial in $55M Crypto Heist

What prosecutors say happened

The case, US v Spalletta, 26-cr-118, opened with statements Monday in the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutor Shaun Werbelow told jurors Spalletta "orchestrated a plan to destroy a whole cryptocurrency platform, to steal $50 million and then launder the money he stole." Charged in March over two 2021 exploits of decentralized exchange Uranium Finance, Spalletta could face a 20-year maximum on the top count if a jury returns a guilty verdict.

Prosecutors say Uranium paid bonuses to users who deposited into its liquidity pools. In the first episode, they allege Spalletta used a deceptive sequence of transactions that fooled the system into awarding him more rewards than allowed, repeating the loop until the bonus pool was emptied. The government pegs that haul at about $1.4 million at the time.

Roughly three weeks after the first incident, the government says Spalletta manipulated the setting that governed how much could be withdrawn from a pool and took out digital assets valued at over $53.3 million at that point. Prosecutors allege the platform subsequently ceased operations because it lacked sufficient funds.

The laundering trail and the defense's pushback