The
U.S.
federal
government
on
Wednesday
charged
three
people
with
a
yearslong
phone
hacking
conspiracy
that
culminated
in
the
infamous
theft
of
$400
million
from
FTX
as
Sam
Bankman-Fried’s
crypto
exchange
was
collapsing.
In
an
18-page
indictment
filed
in
D.C.
court,
prosecutors
accused
Robert
Powell,
Carter
Rohn
and
Emily
Hernandez
with
conspiracy
to
commit
wire
fraud
and
identity
theft
in
their
operation
of
a
SIM
swapping
ring
that
targeted
fifty
victims
between
March
2021
and
April
2023.
Their
most
notable
heist
came
on
Nov
11,
2022,
when
the
trio
siphoned
$400
million
from
an
unidentified
company.
Bloomberg,
citing
sources
familiar
with
the
matter,
said
that
company
was
FTX.
Read
more:
‘FTX
Has
Been
Hacked’:
Crypto
Disaster
Worsens
as
Exchange
Sees
Mysterious
Outflows
Exceeding
$600M
They
gained
access
to
an
employee
of
the
crypto
exchange
through
AT&T
and
transferred
out
hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars
worth
of
crypto.
The
charges
offer
a
solution
to
one
of
the
most
vexing
questions
left
in
the
FTX
saga:
what
happened
to
hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars
in
crypto
that
disappeared
in
the
exchange’s
darkest
hour,
right
after
it
filed
for
bankruptcy
protection.
