An Israeli national appeared in federal court in California to face charges alleging he stole nearly $2.9 million in cryptocurrency by exploiting a flaw in a decentralized finance network, federal prosecutors said.
Alexander Gurevich, 49, made his first court appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after being extradited from Israel, the Department of Justice announced. Israeli authorities arrested Gurevich in May 2025 on a 2023 U.S. indictment.
Federal prosecutors allege that on or about Aug. 1, 2022, Gurevich targeted the Nomad Bridge, a service running self-executing software code known as a smart contract. According to court records, Gurevich carried out four unauthorized transactions, siphoning 103 Wrapped Bitcoin and 300 Wrapped Ether from Nomad’s digital wallet into addresses under his control.
At the time of the transfer, the stolen digital assets were valued at approximately $2,894,390.
Investigators said Gurevich quickly moved to hide the trail of the stolen funds. He allegedly ran the tokens through a series of swaps into other cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, and routed the balances through multiple digital wallets to disguise their ownership, origin, and location.
Gurevich is charged with causing damage to a protected computer, interstate transportation of stolen money, and money laundering.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the computer damage charge, up to 10 years and a $250,000 fine for interstate transportation of stolen money, and up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine for money laundering.
The charges were announced by Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Scott R. Schelble.
The FBI led the investigation, with assistance from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and law enforcement officials in Israel. Trial Attorneys Jessica Peck and Ethan Cantor of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section are prosecuting the case alongside the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
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