Israeli extradited to US for $2.8m crypto theft via exploit

The International Department of the State Attorney's Office announced Thursday that an Israeli resident has been extradited to United States authorities to stand trial on charges of fraud, computer-related offenses, transfer of stolen goods, and money laundering. The extradition was carried out in cooperation with the Operations Coordination Unit and Interpol division of the Israel Police, after all legal proceedings in Israel were exhausted.

The suspect, who holds both Israeli and Russian citizenship, was arrested at Ben-Gurion Airport in May 2025 while en route to Russia. According to the American extradition request, in late July 2022 he identified a vulnerability in the Nomad system, which is used to convert cryptocurrencies between different blockchain networks by locking coins against the issuance of "tokens."

The suspect allegedly altered the computer code that verifies the locking of coins, so that the system would issue him a digital representation without any actual deposit being made. After confirming that the system did not detect the alteration, on August 1, 2022, he withdrew tokens from Nomad's wallet with a total value of approximately $2.8 million.

He then converted the tokens into various currencies and transferred them between digital wallets in order to obscure and conceal the source of the funds.

In the course of legal proceedings, the District Court declared the citizen extraditable. His appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected, with the court establishing important precedents in the field of digital crime.

The court ruled that the term "penetration of computer material" should be interpreted broadly to include exploitation of security vulnerabilities and programming errors. It also determined that the fact that blockchain networks are public does not preclude the offense of money laundering, since the identity of wallet owners remains anonymous and such transfers make it difficult to trace the funds.

Subsequently, his petition for a further hearing before the President of the Supreme Court was also denied.

The extradition case was handled by Adv. Avi Kronenberg of the International Department at the State Attorney's Office.