Alexander Gurevich

Introduction

Alexander Gurevich is a 49-year-old Israeli national who was extradited to the United States to face charges that he exploited the Nomad Bridge’s self-executing computer program — a smart contract — to steal $2.89 million in virtual currency in what the Justice Department has called a virtual currency heist. He had his initial appearance in the Northern District of California on a 2023 indictment charging him with causing damage to a protected computer, interstate transportation of stolen money, and money laundering. Gurevich was arrested in May 2025 in Israel and was recently extradited to the United States. He is charged, not convicted: as the Justice Department’s release states, an indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Background Information

The allegations against Gurevich center on the Nomad Bridge, whose self-executing computer program is known as a smart contract. According to the indictment, on or about Aug. 1, 2022, Gurevich is alleged to have executed four exploit transactions from the Nomad Bridge and transferred a total of 103 WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) and 300 WETH (Wrapped Ether) from Nomad’s virtual currency address to a virtual currency address controlled by Gurevich through unauthorized and non-authenticated transactions. The estimated value of that virtual currency was approximately $2,894,390 at the time of the transactions. For years afterward he remained outside the reach of the charges: the indictment was returned in 2023, but Gurevich was not arrested until May 2025, when he was taken into custody in Israel, and his extradition to the United States was completed only recently, ahead of his initial appearance in the Northern District of California.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted — extradited to face charges. Per the indictment, on or about Aug. 1, 2022, Gurevich is alleged to have executed four exploit transactions from the Nomad Bridge, transferring a total of 103 WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) and 300 WETH (Wrapped Ether) from Nomad’s virtual currency address to a virtual currency address he controlled, through unauthorized and non-authenticated transactions — an amount whose estimated value at the time was approximately $2,894,390.

The indictment further alleges a systematic effort to obscure where the money went. Shortly after the virtual currency was stolen, Gurevich is alleged to have conducted a number of financial transactions to convert it to other types of virtual currency, including Bitcoin, and to have continued transferring the funds to multiple virtual currency addresses in order to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the proceeds of his unlawful activity. The charges track that alleged conduct: causing damage to a protected computer, interstate transportation of stolen money, and money laundering. If convicted, Gurevich faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for causing damage to a protected computer, as well as for interstate transportation of stolen money, and 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for money laundering.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case was 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 Special Agent in Charge Scott R. Schelble of the FBI. The FBI is investigating the case, and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Israeli authorities provided substantial assistance — assistance that ended a period of more than two years between the indictment and Gurevich’s arrest, and carried him from Israel to a federal courtroom in California. Trial Attorneys Jessica Peck and Ethan Cantor of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and the Northern District of California are prosecuting the case. The penalties he faces if convicted are substantial on every count: up to a decade in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the first two charges, and up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine for money laundering.

Current Status

Gurevich has had his initial appearance in the Northern District of California following his recent extradition from Israel. The Justice Department’s release reports no plea, and the case stands at its beginning in that court — an initial appearance on an indictment first returned in 2023 for conduct alleged to have occurred on or about Aug. 1, 2022. The Department’s statement of his position is explicit: “An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.” The announcement was issued as Press Release Number 26-1300.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Nothing in the Justice Department’s release describes Gurevich’s occupation or life outside the case; he enters the public record as a 49-year-old Israeli national, arrested in his home country in May 2025 and extradited to the United States to answer a three-year-old indictment. The extradition itself — secured with help from the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Israeli authorities — means the alleged Aug. 1, 2022 exploit has followed him across a border and into a U.S. courtroom, where he now faces charges that carry a potential 20-year prison term on the money laundering count alone if he is convicted. Until a court rules, every allegation in the indictment remains just that: an allegation against a presumed innocent man.

Sources

• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Israeli National Extradited to Face Charges for Stealing Nearly $3M in Virtual Currency Heist” — source