New York Biker Gang Ether Theft

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An unknown cyber-millionaire became victim of theft. Three biker gang members tricked the victim into a van, and threatened him with a gun until he revealed the location of his 24 word passphrase. While it took many months, eventually the thieves were brought to justice and most of the funds were returned.

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

About None

"Cesar (Fuego) Guzman, 38, a paraprofessional with the Department of Education, Allan (Joker) Nunez, 36, and Darrell (Bishop) Colon, 37, joined Louis Meza, 35, to lure [a] cyber-millionaire victim into a minivan posing as a livery car on Nov. 4, 2017."

"The chunky trio may not seem like high-tech hoods, but Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said everyone is getting clepto around crypto."

“The investigation revealed that Mr. Guzman recruited both of these individuals based on their shared involvement in a Bronx motorcycle crew or group,” Vinocur said. "According to Assistant District Attorney James Vinocur, Meza chose the victim while Guzman recruited the other two members." "MEMBERS OF a Bronx biker gang, one sporting a skull tattoo, kidnapped a friend and robbed him of nearly $2 million in cryptocurrency."

"Meza, of Jersey City, originally set up the victim, his buddy, by getting him to get into the fake Uber." "Colon was hiding in the rear row of seats and popped out with what appeared to be a gun to threaten the victim for his Ether"

"Meza asked the victim to enter the minivan posing as an Uber. Once the individual stepped into the vehicle, they were held at gunpoint by Colon who was hiding behind the rear seat of the car. Nunez was responsible for driving the car until the victim revealed their ethereum wallet’s password to the criminals. After about two hours, the individual gave in and surveillance cameras captured Guzman and Mez entering the victim’s house and stealing $2 million worth of ether."

"A three-men biker gang kidnapped and robbed a man of $1.8 million in Ether in New York, USA, in 2017. The victim was tortured and even had a gun pointed to his head but eventually managed to escape after two hours."

"Nunez drove the victim around for two hours at gunpoint until he coughed up the location of his 24-word passphrase. Meza, who was caught on surveillance camera, and Guzman, whose head is inked with tribal tats, broke into victim’s apartment where they nabbed his digital wallet and stole $1.8 million, prosecutor James Vinocur said at the men’s arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court."

"Meza, of Jersey City, was arrested and charged [in] December [2017]." "Louis Meza [was] arraigned in State Supreme Court on December 12, 2017 in New York. Meza is accused of kidnapping and robbing a friend of $1.8 million worth of Ether cryptocurrency." "In December 2017, Meza was charged with kidnapping and robbing the victim by Manhattan prosecutors. At that time, video footage of the incident was used to capture Meza, however, the rest of the suspects were nowhere to be found."

In June 2018", however, the New York Daily News reported that Bronx biker gang members Cesar Guzman (Fuego), Allan Nunez (Joker) and Darrell Colon (Bishop) were prosecuted for helping Meza in the ether heist."

"Nunez’s attorney told the judge that City Councilman Ritchie Torres penned a letter on his client’s behalf attesting to his good character and the charity work he does for his community in the Bronx."

"The attorney, Rob Georges, also argued that his client should get relatively minimal bail considering that fallen film producer Harvey Weinstein, another defendant in Manhattan, posted $1 million cash, which is just a fraction of his reported worth."

“And he’s not suspected of being nearly as violent,” Georges argued.

"The three men pleaded not guilty in front of Justice Melissa Jackson."

"Guzman’s attorney said that in addition to working for the Education Department, his client attends night classes at Lehman College."

"Luckily, law enforcement officers were able to retrieve majority of the cryptocurrency." "Most of the stolen digital dollars were recovered, prosecutors said."

This exchange or platform is based in United States, or the incident targeted people primarily in United States.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - New York Biker Gang Ether Theft

Date	Event	Description
November 4th, 2017	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $1,800,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

The total amount recovered has been estimated at $1,800,000 USD.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

The first and best defense is to not allow anyone to know the extent of your holdings. You can set up a throw-away wallet with a smaller balance, which can be given up in the event of being held hostage. However, a more secure strategy may be to store the wallet and any phrases at a secure location, such as a bank, casino, or other high security facility. Greater security yet can be achieved through setting up a multi-signature wallet, which requires multiple devices to sign an outgoing transaction. This could even include requiring signatures from trusted friends or family.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.