A US court judge has declared a mistrial in the case against two brothers for allegedly exploiting the Ethereum (ETH) MEV-boost system to net a $25 million profit.
According to the DOJ, the Pepaire-Bueno siblings stole $25 million in ETH in a first-of-its-kind heist targeting the prominent blockchain network. Notably, the brothers had explored a flaw in the Ethereum MEV Boost system, allowing them to view hidden pending transactions:
Acting as a block builder, they “poisoned” a block to trick trading bots into revealing their strategies, then executed a sandwich attack, buying a large volume of ETH before another trader’s order and selling immediately after the price rose.
Assistant US District Danielle Marie Kudla stated that creating a poison block was an act of deceit against other traders that should be punished by law. However, the lawyers of the defendants countered this narrative, stating the Pepaire-Bueno brothers had not operated beyond the bounds of trading in a bot-eat-bot world of Ethereum.
On Friday, November 7, the jury in the case struggled to reach a unanimous verdict, according to Business Insider. The 12-man team. stated the peculiar case that had undergone a four-week trial had resulted in significant personal emotional cost.
Following the motion for a mistrial, the prosecutors were willing to move the case to Monday and continue with 11 jurors. However, Judge Clarke opted to declare a mistrial as she strongly believed an extension would solve the jury’s confusion. While this ruling might provide some relief for the Pepaire-Bueno brothers, it’s worth noting that the charges remain active and prosecutors can still move for another trial.
Featured image from Protos, chart from Tradingview
