An Israeli hacker who managed to obtain a huge amount of digital currency through a cyber breach was brought to trial in a Tel Aviv court .
Eliyahu Gigi, a resident of the city, was reported to have collected almost $1.75 million in digital currencies from several European citizens, who primarily came from Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. As reported by the news media, the money he managed to steal was mainly in Bitcoin, Ether and Dash. Gigi was charged with serious offenses, which contradict Israeli laws regarding the use of information systems. Among others are theft, forgery and fraud.
As mentioned, the hacker had set up a huge criminal enterprise, which included a series of electronic portals, which helped him in carrying out the thefts. The websites he had built offered specific types of software to their users, jeopardizing their security and stealing their digital currencies. The defendant took care to protect his business, hiding his electronic presence through remote servers. But in addition to these offenses, Gigi has to face another very important charge, that of tax evasion.
He reportedly stopped declaring his income between 2012 and 2013 and underreported his assets in 2015 and 2016. The investigation into the crimes was conducted by the Israel Police's cybercrime unit, with the participation of the Israel Tax Service. Gigi had been discovered in early June along with his brother, who was also involved in the entire scandal. In the initial indictment filed by the authorities, the two brothers were accused of stealing a total of $100 million from the business they had set up.
