BitGrail owner suspected of hacking his own Bitcoin exchange

The founder of the BitGrail cryptocurrency exchange, Francesco Firano, has become a suspect in the case of the 2018 hack of the platform and the theft of €120 million. Reuters reports citing Italian police.

According to the investigation, Firano was involved in a series of attacks on his own exchange. He is suspected of fraud, fictitious bankruptcy, and money laundering.

“It is not yet clear whether he played an active role in the theft or simply chose not to improve security measures after discovering it,” said Ivano Gabrielli, director of the National Cybercrime Center.

The police noted that preventing a repeat breach of BitGrail would not have been difficult, but Firano “consciously did not do this.” The agency regards the attack on the exchange as the largest in Italy.

In February 2018, the trading platform reported the loss of 17 million XRB (Nano / RaiBlocks). At that time, the damage amounted to $170 million.

In May of the same year, a court ordered the exchange to halt operations. A month later, authorities seized bitcoins from BitGrail wallets.

Earlier in January 2019, the platform and its owner were declared bankrupt and ordered to return to clients the maximum possible amount of the lost $170 million.

Follow ForkLog news on Facebook!