A federal jury in Manhattan has convicted a Maryland man of computer fraud and money laundering over two 2021 attacks on the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uranium Finance that prosecutors say yielded about $54.7 million in cryptocurrency.
Jonathan Spalletta, 36, of Rockville, Maryland, was convicted on all counts following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced Wednesday.
Two attacks on Uranium Finance
According to prosecutors and evidence presented at trial, Spalletta carried out two attacks against Uranium Finance in April 2021.
Prosecutors said the first attack, on April 8, exploited the exchange’s smart contract rewards mechanism and produced approximately $1.4 million in cryptocurrency. A second attack on April 28 exploited an error across multiple liquidity pools and yielded approximately $53.3 million, causing Uranium Finance to shut down because of the loss of funds.
The Justice Department said Spalletta later moved funds through a series of cryptocurrency transactions that included use of the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer.
Rare cards, Roman coins and a piece of aviation history
Trial evidence described by prosecutors showed that some of the proceeds were used to buy high-value collectibles.
The purchases included a Black Lotus Magic: The Gathering card for approximately $500,000, sealed Magic card packs, first-edition Pokemon cards and antique Roman coins.
Prosecutors also said Spalletta purchased for approximately $137,500 a piece of fabric from the Wright brothers’ original airplane that was later carried to the Moon by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first Moon landing.
Another purchase cited by prosecutors was an Eid Mar denarius, a Roman coin commemorating the assassination of Julius Caesar, for approximately $601,545.
Authorities seized about $31 million in cryptocurrency
The Justice Department said law enforcement seized cryptocurrency worth approximately $31 million in February 2025 under a judicially authorized seizure warrant.
Spalletta was convicted of one count of computer fraud and one count of money laundering. The computer-fraud count carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison and the money-laundering count carries a statutory maximum of 20 years.
Those are maximum penalties set by law and do not predict the sentence the judge will ultimately impose.
What happens next
Sentencing remains ahead. Zark News will update this report when the court sets or announces further consequential developments in the case.
Zark News did not use the evidence photographs displayed in the Justice Department release because their exact republication and modification rights were not sufficiently clear for Zark’s visual-rights standard.
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, October 7, 2026.
