US Law Enforcement Arrests Mastermind of $1.2 Million MEV Rug Pull Scam
A notorious MEV-bot engineer linked to a $1.2 million rug pull scam, Robert Robb (known online as “pokerbrat”), was arrested by U.S. law enforcement on March 20.
Robb’s arrest came to light on March 21 after cryptocurrency sleuth ZachXBT revealed a possible connection to the alleged scam.
The case was first brought to the limelight when the blockchain security expert unveiled Robb’s illicit crypto activities in December 2023.
MEV refers to the profit miners can make by reordering, front-running, or including transactions in a block to benefit them financially. This can occur due to the nature of how transactions are processed and included in a blockchain, particularly in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
MEV bots are automated tools designed to exploit this potential profit by quickly identifying and executing trades based on the order of block transactions.
Community Alert: @pokerbrat2019 solicited at least $1.2M from 11 individuals earlier this year for various MEV bots (independent from Rampage) that he claimed would soon be operational.
After initially agreeing to return funds due to countless launch delays PokerBrat has made… pic.twitter.com/qzDdIriizf
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) December 4, 2023
Robb was reportedly able to pull the funds from investors based on his promise to build automated trading bots. ZachXBT alleged that Robb was an MEV bot fraudster who disappeared with investor funds without delivering on his promise.
Zach’s allegation further revealed various excuses presented by Robb after incessant delay of the project up until investors became frustrated.
After about 60 days of waiting for the project updates, Robb came up with excuses ranging from COVID setbacks, exchange issues, extortion, family problems,
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