• Mark Shin of Colorado has been charged with theft, cybercrime, and money laundering for allegedly stealing $9 million in crypto funds.
• Shin is believed to have noticed an “unintended vulnerability” in the ICON Nation cryptocurrency and used it to mint unauthorized ICX.
• Defense attorney Chris Decker believes Shin was not engaging in thievery but rather saw a “golden opportunity” and chose to take advantage.
Mark Shin Charged with Crypto Theft
A man in Aurora, Colorado has been accused of stealing roughly $9 million in crypto funds. 31-year-old Mark Shin has been charged with theft , cybercrime, and money laundering at the time of writing for allegedly taking part in a scheme back in April of 2020 through his home computer.
Unintended Vulnerability Found
Shin is believed to have noticed an “unintended vulnerability in the revision 9 update” of the ICON Nation cryptocurrency. Instead of reporting this to ICON Foundation/Nation, court documents allege that Shin took part in a scheme that ultimately drained the network and made him an instant digital millionaire. The documents state: Shin changed the vote/select delegate function 558 times over an 11-hour period to mint unauthorized ICX. From his personal computer, Shin minted and stole from the ICON Nation approximately 13,924,045 unauthorized ICX, which was roughly the equivalent of approximately $8,988,406.00 U.S. dollars at the time of the attack.
Defense Attorney’s Statement
Chris Decker, a defense attorney, issued the following statement regarding his feelings on the case: I love this case. I think it’s fascinating. Shin is arguing that he did not engage in thievery, but rather saw a “golden opportunity” and chose to take advantage. Decker said of the matter: Mr. Shin utilized the code that was written by this cryptocurrency to create his own mint or mint his own currency. So he wasn’t taking property of another – he was creating new currency.“
Legal Analyst’s Opinion
George Brachler – legal analyst and former 18th Judicial District attorney – said this case is baffling and nothing like what he’s ever seen in nearly 30 years of serving law enforcement agencies He commented: „I don’t think [Shin’s argument] will because he acts guilty…He creates a bunch of different accounts…to try to disguise who’s the owner.“
Prosecutors‘ Claims
Prosecutors are claiming that Shin used a spinning service called Tornado Cash to move allthe money into other wallets linked with anonymous addresses after stealing it from ICON Network .