A group of dissatisfied cryptocurrency investors has filed a class action lawsuit against Atomic Wallet, which suffered a significant security breach and $100 million in losses in June, stating the firm didn’t share any information about the hack with clients or report it to the police.
BNE IntelliNews reported on August 21 that dozens of wealthy investors from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States are involved in the class action against Atomic Wallet.
The litigation is coordinated by German attorney Max Gutbrod and co-founder of the legal tech firm Destra Legal in Moscow, Boris Feldman.
Gutbrod, a former partner at Baker & McKenzie in Moscow for over two decades, reportedly claimed that the attorneys represent approximately 50 clients who lost $12 million due to the breach at Atomic Wallet two months ago. He stated,
“We are working on recovering the assets for our clients and we will be filing a class action against Atomic Wallet […] They didn’t give our clients any information about the hack or go to the police to report it.”
In mid-June 2023, the noncustodial cryptocurrency wallet Atomic Wallet was subject to a $100 million exploit. At least 5,500 crypto accounts on the platform were compromised.
Subsequently, crypto analytics firms such as Elliptic linked the theft to the North Korean cybercriminal group Lazarus Group, which is believed to be responsible for stealing billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency via multiple robberies.
Initial reports implicated Lazarus in the attack on Atomic Wallet, but new claims involve a different party.
According to Feldman’s claims, it is far more probable that a Ukrainian group was responsible for the attack. His firm, Destra, has been collaborating with blockchain analytics at Match Systems, conducting its investigation on the investors’ behalf.
“They have discovered evidence of involvement by Ukrainian hacker groups,” Feldman said.
As previously reported, Atomic Wallet did not specify the circumstances that led to the June exploit. The company only listed the four most “probable” causes, including a virus on user devices, an infrastructure compromise, a man-in-the-middle attack, and malware code injection.
Additionally, Atomic Wallet reaffirmed that less than 0.1% of app users were affected. Immediately after the breach, the cryptocurrency wallet reportedly resumed regular operation.
