Prosecutors seek new trial for MIT brothers after $25 million Ethereum fraud case ends in mistrial

New York prosecutors are calling for another round in court after two MIT-educated brothers were accused of orchestrating a $25 million fraud on Ethereum after a weeks-long trial ended in a mistrial.  

Anton, 25, and James, 29, Peraire-Bueno were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York in connection with an alleged exploit involving "maximal extractable value," or MEV software. Prosecutors say the software netted the brothers $25 million in just 12 seconds. 

The trial, which lasted four weeks, ended in a mistrial with some outlets reporting that deliberations left some jurors in tears. Last week, New York District Judge Jessica Clarke ended the trial after being convinced that the jury was unlikely to make more progress if they were given more time. 

On Monday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton asked for a new trial as soon as late February or early March of next year, in a letter addressed to Judge Clarke. 

"The Government respectfully requests that the Court set the earliest possible trial date to accommodate counsel for Anton Peraire-Bueno, which the defendants have represented is April 20, 2026," according to the letter. 

Clayton said that the defense does not think the court needs a new trial date at this time. Lawyers for the brothers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Clayton previously served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission under the first Trump administration. 

Sandwich attacks

The Peraire-Bueno brothers allegedly exploited a flaw in MEV-Boost software to spy on other traders' activity after intentionally "poisoning" a block of transactions.

With the insight, the brothers were able to use a "sandwich attack" to bid up the price of a token before another trader's transaction executes, then sell the tokens at the higher price, pocketing the difference. 

Their defense had argued that the brothers' actions were fair play in the competitive space of automatic bot operations on Ethereum, especially those that involve MEV, the "maximal/miner extractable value" that validators can earn by optimally organizing transactions before submitting the block to Ethereum's blockchain, according to The Block's reporting.