Man Makes $5.8K in Ethereum and Gets 3 Years Probation

A former engineer at e-commerce company Digital River was sentenced Tuesday to three years’ probation for illegally mining cryptocurrency using his former employer’s cloud servers.

Joshua Paul Armbrust, 45, was subsequently sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell plead guilty in April following a computer fraud count documented by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, with initials reporting at the discretion of the local media Duluth News Tribune.

After resigning from Digital River in February 2020, Armbrust continued to access the company’s Amazon Web Services account between December 2020 and May 2021, running a program that mined cryptocurrency without permission.

Armbrust “remotely accessed the company’s Amazon Web Services account without authorization on multiple occasions and used AWS computers to mine Ethereum cryptocurrency,” the DOJ announcement reads.

Attorney William J. Mauzy said Armbrust’s actions occurred “during a time of extreme financial need and significant emotional distress” while caring for his ailing mother, who has since died.

Mauzy argued that Armbrust was not a “malicious hacker” but someone who acted out of “desperation and desperation,” noting that his client made no attempt to conceal the activity and had taken full responsibility for the losses.

Prosecutors said the operation generated more than $5,800 worth of Ethereum, which Armbrust used for personal use, while Digital River incurred approximately $45,270 in cloud service fees before the activity was discovered.

Declutter contacted the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota to request a copy of the sentencing documents and confirm the details. Attempts have been made to obtain comment from Armbrust’s legal representatives.

It is worth noting that Armbrust was mining at a time when Ethereum was still dependent on a proof-of-work system, which required significant computing power and energy consumption, before it was introduced. transition to proof-of-stake in September 2022.

That was him indicted in November 2024 on one count of computer fraud for a “cryptojacking” scheme that led to “significant financial losses,” according to U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.

CryptojackingAccording to the DOJ’s 2024 definition, it is a form of cybercrime in which an unauthorized individual or party “uses another person’s computer resources to mine cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum,” by using a victim’s hardware.

Armbrust’s secret crypto mining scheme used Digital River’s resources “between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily” and transferred Ethereum to its own crypto wallet, Endicott said.

Prosecutors said Armbrust’s actions were not a “temporary error of judgment” but a deliberate misuse of the company’s computer resources for personal gain, causing real financial losses and operational disruption.

Digital river filed for bankruptcy for its German subsidiaries in January before the Cologne insolvency court, after losing access to a revolving credit facility earlier that month.

The company has since closed its headquarters in Minnesota, suspended most of its global services and begun winding down its operations.

Declutter has separately reached out to Digital River for comment on the actions and sentencing of their former employee.