A jury was unable to reach a verdict in the fraud trial of two broth
ers, both recently graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who were accused of stealing roughly $25 million in cryptocurrency from traders on the Ethereum blockchain.
US District Judge Jessica Clarke declared a mistrial Friday in the case against James Peraire-Bueno, 29, and his brother Anton, 25, after a highly technical th
ree-week trial. Jurors deliberated for three days, but they told the judge they would be unable to reach a unanimous decision.
The mistrial is a setback for prosecutors who have sought to define rules of the road in some of the darker corners of the crypto universe. Prosecutors, who declined to comment on the ruling, told Clarke t
hey needed more time to consider whether to seek a new trial for the brothers.
In a note to the judge late Friday, jurors cited the “emotional burden” they were under, adding that half of them had spontaneously broken down in tears at one p
oint during deliberations. Some jurors also reported multiple nights of sleeplessness.
Earlier in the day, jurors told the judge they were struggling with deliberations and asked for guidance. Lawyers
for the Peraire-Bueno brothers urged Clarke to declare a mistrial but she sent the jury back to the deliberation room with dinner menus.
Judges are often reluctant to declare mistrials and instead urge members of the jury to work through their differences. But Clarke made it clear she thought any more
deliberation would be a waste of time given the number of notes jurors had sent back and the emotional toll they had described.
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“There’s rarely a jury note that is more clear,” said Patrick Looby, a lawyer for James Peraire-Bueno. “This is a mistrial.”
‘Sandwich Attacks’
The trial had focused on controversial crypto trades known as “sandwich attacks,” which use bots to place large trades before and after another user’s transa
ction. The attacker profits by selling immediately after driving up the price at the expense of the sandwiched user.
The brothers, who developed a complex strategy to seize attackers’ funds, argued their actions were fair ga
me in an unregulated market. The government contended their actions were a straightforward theft.
One of the jurors, who was interviewed Friday and asked that their name not be used, said the jury was aligned on the
facts of the case, but struggled to understand how to apply it to the law.
James and Anton’s parents and another brother, Alexander “Olek” Peraire-Bueno, sat in the front row of the gal
lery for the entirety of the trial and held a vigil in the courthouse during the three days of deliberations. Durin
g closing arguments on Tuesday, more than a dozen of the brothers’ friends and classmates appeared in court to show their support.
Anton, who was seated directly behind his family, received hugs and kisses from his parents after the mistrial was
declared. Their father, Jaime Peraire, a prominent professor of aeronautic
s and astronautics at MIT, sobbed in the courtroom as lawyers for both parties filed out.
The crypto community was divided over the decision to charge the brothers.
Though sandwich attacks aren’t illegal, they’ve long been controversial among Ethereum users. Some cheered the Peraire-Buenos’ exploit as giving sandwich attackers a taste of their own medicine.