Crypto Fugitive from Canada Evades European Custody, Emerges in Bosnia
A suspect wanted for a major cryptocurrency theft has slipped through the cracks of European law enforcement, vanishing from custody only to resurface thousands of miles away in Bosnia.
The Great Escape
Authorities are scrambling. The individual, originally apprehended in connection with a multi-million dollar digital asset heist, managed to bypass European detention systems entirely. The details of the escape remain murky—no forced doors or dramatic chases reported—which points to a significant procedural failure. It's the kind of security lapse that makes traditional bankers smirk into their martinis.
Borderless Crime, Bordered Justice
The case underscores crypto crime's inherent advantage: mobility. Digital wealth moves at light speed, while international arrest warrants plod through bureaucratic mud. The suspect's reappearance in Bosnia highlights the jurisdictional tangles that plague cross-border investigations. Local authorities now face the complex task of coordinating an extradition, a process often measured in years, not minutes.
The Aftermath
This isn't just a manhunt; it's a stress test for global financial policing. Every time a fugitive glitches through the system, it erodes trust. Investors get nervous, and regulators reach for heavier rulebooks. For all the talk of blockchain's immutable ledger, the human elements—the thieves, the traders, the regulators—remain the volatile, unpredictable nodes in the system. The chase continues, proving that in the new finance, the biggest bugs are still human.
Medjedovic used fake aliases, passports in hotels around Europe
According to records from extradition proceedings at the Belgrade Higher Court, reviewed by investigative journalists, he controlled about $65 million in crypto while on the run.
No one has been able to trace the exact locations he had visited since 2021, up until his arrest in Belgrade. Medjedovic told reporters he had been in South America, on unnamed islands, and a jail “somewhere in Europe.” Serbian court translations show he traveled through Brazil, Dubai, and Spain after vanishing in late 2021.
“He may be able to live large,” said Kyle Armstrong, a former FBI agent now with TRM Labs. “However, to pay your rent, to buy a car, to travel, there’s not many places that are willing to accept cryptocurrency.” Armstrong believes that if the funds were obscured, the suspect “may have cashed out some of his millions of dollars.”
Medjedovic is very popular in crypto circles because he is alleged to have exploited two platforms. The US DOJ and the Netherlands have linked him to the hack of the Vietnam-based DeFi multichain aggregator KyberSwap.
As reported by Cryptopolitan, Kyberswap suffered a front-end bot exploit in 2023, resulting in the loss of $48 million in user funds. After fraudulently walking away with the assets, the attacker sent a public message to the firm. “Negotiations will start in a few hours when I am fully rested. Thank you.”
That exchange of words later formed part of a US indictment unsealed in early 2025, supporting the DOJ’s extortion charge. Dutch authorities claimed the Kyber incident was launched from a hotel in The Hague. They say Medjedovic checked in with a false Slovak passport and left the morning after the hack, even though he had paid for a month’s stay.
An Ontario court issued a bench warrant in late 2021 when he failed to appear in a civil case. He also allegedly exploited code vulnerabilities on the Index Finance platform at age 18, racking up $16.5 million.
Where is Medjedovic now?
According to Dutch police records, he used a Bosnian passport for one flight and a Slovak passport for travel to Sarajevo. Medjedovic told the Serbian court that he holds Bosnian citizenship, not Canadian.
Moreover, Global Affairs Canada confirmed it “was aware of a Canadian citizen detained abroad” in the summer of 2024.
After traveling to Bosnia in 2023, the Dutch warrant was followed by an Interpol Red Notice. His next confirmed location was the United Arab Emirates. He told the Belgrade court he “was in Dubai for four months,” using the name Lorenzo. He also booked an apartment in Belgrade under that name, leading to his arrest in August 2024.
Medjedovic was held in custody for 105 days, but he was released after the Dutch failed in an extradition attempt. Judges said Dutch prosecutors had not sufficiently proven that he committed the crimes, and that the potential domestic penalties were too light.
A US court filing submitted in January last year revealed the “defendant is believed to be at large in Bosnia.” When CBC’s reporters caught wind of chatter that he was outside Sarajevo, they contacted the building manager where he was allegedly living in the city. However, they were told that although authorities came looking for him, “he was never seen there.”
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