A U.S. Man Admits Involvement in Cryptocurrency Theft Case, Involving $263 Million

BlockBeats News, November 19th, according to Decrypt, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that a 45-year-old California man named Kunal Mehta, also known as "Shrek," has pleaded guilty, admitting to violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and being involved in laundering at least $25 million worth of cryptocurrency.

Mehta is the eighth member of the gang to plead guilty, having provided services such as crypto-to-cash exchanges and holding high-end cars for money laundering purposes, and he was known to have carried around $500,000 in cash to deliver to his co-conspirators. Since 2023, the gang has stolen a total of $263 million in cryptocurrency through social engineering and hacking, with the embezzled funds being used to purchase nightclub services, luxury goods, real estate, and more. Court documents list 28 seized vehicles, including 7 Lamborghinis, 3 Ferraris, 1 Rolls-Royce, and 1 McLaren. A total of 13 individuals have been prosecuted in the case, with some of the members being as young as 18 years old at the time of the crimes.