A former employee of Minnetonka-based Digital River has been slapped with an indictment for a so-called "cryptojacking" crime spree. U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger announced the indictment of Joshua Paul Armbrust, 44, from Orr, Minnesota, which stems from his unauthorized mining of Ethereum cryptocurrency using his past employer's computing resources.
As stated in the court documents, after Armbrust's resignation from Digital River in February 2020, he carried out his scheme between December 2020 and May 2021. Running from the eyes of the law behind the curtains of computer servers, Armbrust tapped into the company's Amazon Web Services (AWS) account, using it to illegally engorge his digital wallet with mined Ethereum.
This tech-savvy heist led to significant expenses for Digital River, reportedly more than $45,000. With smooth keyboard strokes of deception, Armbrust shuffled the digital currency into a wallet connected to two Coinbase accounts registered under his name. From there, the Ethereum, which summed over $7,000, was converted into cash and made its way to his Wells Fargo bank account, leaving a digital paper trail for the FBI to follow.
A grand jury has now charged Armbrust with one count of computer fraud. "Armbrust made his initial appearance" on November 1, according to a press release, where the charges were officially read before Magistrate Judge John F. Docherty. The allegations remain what they are—allegations. Until a court dives through the evidence and emerges with a verdict, Armbrust remains innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was peeled apart and analyzed by the FBI, whose findings laid the groundwork for the U.S. Attorney's Office to proceed with prosecution—Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley M. Endicott has the reins on this one. With the gavel still to fall on this case, the world of cryptocurrency and cyber security remains warted with the specter of cryptojacking, a crime that this case has brought into the northern Minnesota spotlight.
