Federal prosecutors say a Maryland man who stole more than $54 million from a crypto exchange blew a significant portion of the money on Pokémon cards, antique Roman coins, and a scrap of fabric from the Wright brothers’ plane.
A Hacker With An Unusual Shopping List
The first attack, on April 8, was relatively minor by crypto-crime standards. A bad actor exploited a smart contract flaw and walked away with $1.4 million. The two sides eventually reached a private agreement, and all but $386,000 was returned. Then, 20 days later, Spalletta allegedly came back for more.
The Second Strike Killed The PlatformUranium Finance had launched just days before the first hack, during the 2021 bull market. It was built as a fork of Uniswap, a well-known automated trading protocol. The platform never got a chance to grow. By the end of April, it was gone.
Federal investigators worked the case for years behind the scenes. In early 2025, authorities recovered $31 million in cryptocurrency tied to the hack but offered no public explanation at the time. Monday’s indictment filled in the details.
US Attorney Draws A Hard Line On Crypto TheftSpalletta appeared before US Magistrate Ona Wang on Monday to formally hear the charges. Data from the broader crypto industry puts the 2021 hack in context — bad actors stole an estimated $2.6 billion through various exploits that year alone. The biggest was a $610 million breach of the Poly Network, though the hacker in that case eventually returned the funds.
The Uranium Finance victims have waited nearly five years for answers. Monday’s indictment was a start.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
