High schooler termed Baby Al Capone allegedly hacked phones to pull off $23.8 million crypto heist

An 18-year-old suburban New York high school senior is being sued for allegedly being the mastermind and ringleader of a cybercrime scheme that defrauded a cryptocurrency investor out of millions of dollars in digital currencies. 

Michael Terpin, a pioneer in the world of cryptocurrency, is accusing Ellis Pinsky, of Irvington, New York, and 20 of his alleged co-conspirators of stealing $23.8 million of cryptocurrency in January 2018.

Pinsky was just 15 and in 10th grade at the time of the alleged crime. Terpin is seeking triple the amount lost in damages, to the tune of $71.4 million.

‘On the surface, Pinsky is an “All American Boy,” Terpin said in a complaint filed in federal court in White Plains, New York, but claims in reality he is ‘an evil computer genius. The tables are now turned.’  

In his complaint, Terpin said Pinsky from Westchester county and his ‘gang of digital bandits’ would steal from victims after gaining control of their smartphones through ‘SIM swaps,’ and that…