Ellis Pinksy, the hacker who allegedly planned the theft of $23.8 million in crypt coins from pioneering investor Michael Terpin, was planning to retire after the heist at the age of 15.
However, after turning 18, Pinsky was the subject of a $71.4 million civil suit by Michael Terpin, who is asking for compensation equivalent to three times the amount that was stolen three years ago.
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18-year-old sued for $71.4 million for cryptology theft
At one point, Pinsky allegedly told the informant, “I could buy you and your whole family. I have $100 million.” In the complaint, the acquaintance also noted that “records indicating that Ellis had $70 million had been found.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Terpin said he and his legal team “believe that [Pinsky] was being sincere when he told one of our informants by text message that he still had $100 million hidden overseas.
Pinsky’s main interest had previously been in gaming, which he said provided a gateway to hacking for the teenager. Pinsky frequented gaming chat rooms where hackers bragged about their thefts. This allegedly led Pinsky to teach himself how to steal Skype and Discord usernames.
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After taking an interest in the SIM exchange attacks, Pinsky allegedly began recruiting accomplices, including Nick Truglia.
Truglia was arrested in November 2018 in connection with other SIM swapping attacks, with Terpin winning a $75.8 million lawsuit against him last year.
In early 2018, a 16-year-old accomplice of Pinsky’s filed a police report with the NYPD stating that he had been recruited to help launder Terpin’s funds and had been threatened after sending $700,000 to the wrong wallet.
“[Pinsky] asked me to start getting him some money through selling
- below the $2,000 mark yesterday
- request by the messaging platform
- sir tim berners-lee
- aston crypto plaza
- dipping its toes
- proposal was withdrawn
- put on hold
- circle ceo jeremy allaire
- signed an agreement
- why use bitcoin?
, shoes, or in any way possible. He asked me for $3,000 to $4,000 a week,” the police report says.
The same accomplice remembered Pinsky threatening to kill them or their mother after the 16-year-old boy accidentally let strangers into his talk.