A Maryland man has been charged with allegedly stealing more than $53 million from a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange and laundering the proceeds through Tornado Cash, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton says that Jonathan Spalletta, also known as “Cthulhon” and “Jspalletta,” faces charges of computer fraud and money laundering tied to two 2021 hacks of Uranium Finance.
Prosecutors allege that in April 2021, Spalletta exploited vulnerabilities in Uranium’s smart contracts.
In the first incident, he allegedly manipulated reward mechanisms to extract about $1.4 million in crypto.
In the second, he is accused of exploiting another flaw across 26 liquidity pools, stealing approximately $53.3 million and causing the platform to shut down.
Authorities say Spalletta later laundered the stolen funds through complex transactions, including the use of Tornado Cash.
“As alleged, Jonathan Spalletta repeatedly hacked smart contracts to steal millions of
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