Case files obtained by BIRN and Canada’s CBC document the globe-trotting lifestyle of a Canadian maths whizz who went to ground in 2021, allegedly with tens of millions of dollars in stolen cryptocurrency. Despite an arrest warrant from the Netherlands, he then walked free from a Serbian prison. As his flight departed from Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted. Just two weeks later, on December 11, 2023, Dutch authorities issued a European arrest warrant for the then 21-year-old, alleging he had pulled off a “sophisticated hack” that netted him $48 million US in cryptocurrency.
A native of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario, Medjedovic graduated from high school at 14 and received a master’s degree in pure mathematics at 18; nine months after the arrest warrant was issued, he was arrested in Serbia. Documents from extradition proceedings at the Higher Court of Belgrade obtained by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and the CBC investigative documentary programme the fifth estate provide an extraordinary glimpse into the lifestyle and whereabouts of a young man with an alleged $65 million US in cryptocurrency burning a hole in his pocket and multiple countries seeking his arrest. For four years, Medjedovic’s whereabouts have largely been a mystery to the public. Online speculation had been fuelled by his own statements to journalists, who reported his mentions of South America, unnamed islands and a jail “somewhere in Europe.”
He may be able to live large, said Kyle Armstrong, a former FBI agent who works at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. Nevertheless, Armstrong added, “there are certain ways that if he has obfuscated his trail thus far, he may have cashed out some of his millions of dollars.” Medjedovic is known in the realm of cryptocurrency for allegedly using his mathematical and computer programming prowess to drain millions of dollars from two crypto trading platforms, but also for engaging with victims and online observers in ways that buck the trend of crypto hackers, who often use the technology’s relative anonymity to quietly disappear with their spoils. Shortly after millions in crypto were extracted from Vietnam-based KyberSwap, an exploit attributed to Medjedovic by American and Dutch authorities, the then unidentified attacker sent a publicly visible message to the firm: “Negotiations will start in a few hours when I am fully rested. Thank you.”
Leave a Reply