Israel extradites suspect to the United States over alleged theft of $2.8 million in crypto assets from Nomad

TechFlow news: On October 30, according to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli prosecutors announced that on October 29 (Thursday) they had extradited Alexander Block (formerly Alexander Gurevich), an Israeli-Russian dual citizen, to the United States to face charges of allegedly stealing approximately $2.8 million in digital assets from cross-chain bridge platform Nomad.

U.S. prosecutors said Block exploited a vulnerability in Nomad's validation mechanism on August 1, 2022 to withdraw approximately $2.8 million worth of tokens without the corresponding assets being locked, then converted them into other cryptocurrencies and moved them between multiple wallets to conceal the source of funds. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California indicted him on eight counts in August 2023, involving computer crimes, transferring stolen property, and money laundering, and filed an extradition request in December 2024. Block was arrested in May 2025 at Ben Gurion Airport while preparing to travel to Russia; shortly before his arrest, he changed his surname to Block and obtained a new passport.

The Jerusalem District Court approved the extradition in July 2025, and the Supreme Court of Israel subsequently dismissed his appeal, holding that exploiting a procedural vulnerability could constitute illegal computer intrusion even if it was technically permitted by the software, and that public on-chain transaction records do not rule out the possibility of hidden wallet controllers or the source of funds; Supreme Court President Isaac Amit also denied his request for a retrial. These proceedings do not constitute a final determination of guilt.

Source: TechFlow