- A former engineer pleaded guilty to illegally mining Ethereum using his previous employer’s cloud services.
- The individual received three years of probation and must repay the stolen amount.
- The mining activities ran between December 2020 and May 2021 without authorization.
- The company suffered over $45,000 in cloud service costs, while the defendant earned about $5,800 in Ethereum.
- The case involved computer fraud charges and took place before Ethereum shifted from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.
A former engineer at Digital River was sentenced to three years of probation after admitting to using his former employer’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) account for unauthorized cryptocurrency mining. The sentencing was decided by U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell in August 2025.
The defendant, Joshua Paul Armbrust, 45, pleaded guilty in April to a felony charge of computer fraud. Court records indicate that Armbrust accessed the Digital River AWS account multiple times between December 2020 and May 2021 to mine Ethereum without permission. He converted the mined cryptocurrency for personal use.
According to prosecutors, Armbrust’s mining scheme led to expenses of about $45,270 in cloud fees for the company. Meanwhile, he earned roughly $5,800 worth of Ethereum during the operation. The activity occurred primarily between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. daily and was detected by the company prior to the sentencing.
Armbrust’s defense attorney stated that the actions were driven by financial need and emotional distress related to caring for an ill mother. The attorney described the mining as an act of desperation, emphasizing that Armbrust did not try to hide his conduct and has taken full responsibility.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office described the case as a deliberate misuse of company computers for personal gain, causing significant financial and operational impact. Armbrust was indicted in November 2024 for the “cryptojacking” criminal scheme, defined as unauthorized use of someone else’s hardware to mine cryptocurrency.
This case took place when Ethereum still used a proof-of-work consensus system, which demands extensive computing resources and energy. Ethereum transitioned to a proof-of-stake system in September 2022, reducing the need for such power-intensive mining.
In related developments, Digital River filed for insolvency for its German subsidiaries in January 2025, subsequently closing its Minnesota headquarters and suspending many services as part of winding down its operations.
For further details, see the official U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement and local news report.
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