A man from Connecticut whose parents were kidnapped after he had participated in a Bitcoin theft of $ 245 million, guilty of fraud and money laundering of money and has agreed to witnessing his co-distributions, according to judicial documents that were denied this week.
Veer Chetal, 19, from Danbury, Connecticut, was one of the three men in charge of stealing 4,100 bitcoins of a victim in Washington, DC, in an extensive online scam last August. The trio lived great after the robbery and spent millions of dollars on cars, jewelry, rental houses and nightclub parties, say public prosecutors.
A week after the theft, the parents of Chetal were attacked and briefly abducted in Danbury in a failed ransomplot aimed at Chetal, who, according to the attackers, had a large amount of cryptocurrency, the authorities said.
Chetal's criminal case was unlocked on Monday at the federal court in Washington, where he brought to light his culprit in November and his agreement to collaborate with federal authorities investigating the Bitcoin theft. It also revealed new allegations that he was involved in around 50 comparable thefts that won another $ 3 million between November 2023 and September 2024.
Another man who was sued in the Bitcoin theft, Malone Lam, was also of the 13 people who were sued in May by a federal large jury in an alleged online racketeering -entanglement with thefts of cryptocurrency in the US and abroad that produced more than $ 260 million.
Chetal is confronted with 19 to 24 years in prison, a fine between $ 50,000 and $ 500,000 and a refund to the victim that still has to be determined, according to guidelines of the federal conviction and its pleiding agreement.
His lawyer, David Weinstein, refused to comment and said that Chetal's case is still being processed.
In September, federal agents with a house search order fell the apartment of Chetal in Brunswick, New Jersey and the house of his parents in Danbury in connection with the Bitcoin -Heist of $ 245 million. Authorities said they found more than $ 500,000 in cash, expensive jewelry and watches and high-end clothing. Federal agents also said that Chetal had $ 39 million in cryptocurrency that he transferred to researchers.
Authorities claimed that Chetal, Lam and Jeandiel Serrano were involved in online “Social Engineering” attacks against holders of cryptocurrency. Lam would send reports of victims about unauthorized attempts to gain access to their crypto accounts, while the others would call the victims who present themselves as representatives of well-known companies such as Google and Yahoo and gain access to their accounts, the authorities said.
Messages that were commenting was left on Friday with lawyers for LAM and Serrano.
A week after the theft, six men in Florida were accused of kidnapping Chetal's parents in broad daylight in Danbury. One of them crashed a car in the parents' Lamborghini, while others put in a van, the police said. The attackers forced the couple out of their vehicle, hit them, put them in the van and tied them, the police said.
The plot was thwarted and the attackers were quickly arrested because there were eyewitnesses who immediately called the police, and an off-Duty FBI agent happened to pass by at the time of the kidnapping, the authorities said. Federal agents said a seventh man who was later arrested in connection with the kidnapping had previously entered a dispute with Chetal that became physically in a night club in Miami.
The attack on the couple is part of an increasing trend worldwide with robbers who use violence to steal cryptocurrency.
Chetal, who went to Rutgers University in New Jersey at the time of the theft of $ 245 million and later withdrew, was born in India and came to the US with his family when he was 4 years old in 2010, according to judicial documents. His father received the visa from a foreign employee and his wife and children obtained related dependent visas.
Federal authorities said that Chetal had to do with deportation as a result of the criminal case.
Authorities say that Chetal's father has lost his job at Morgan Stanley because of the kidnapping and connection of his son with it.
Chetal was initially released from the federal detention on his own recognition. But a judge ordered him to hold the trial earlier this year after the Federal Public Prosecutors said they discovered that Chetal was involved in another crypto -theft worth $ 2 million in October that he did not tell them after he had started working with federal authorities.
