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Back in July, when federal prosecutors linked 31-year-olds Josh Aaron and Anthony Murgio with hackers who had spirited away personal data on 83 million JPMorgan Chase customers, people scratched their heads and wondered:

How had two fraternity brothers from Florida State University gotten into an incident that had JPMorgan leveling accusations against the Russian government? 

Now Bloomberg has published a profile of the two accused. It describes them as a pair of entrepreneurial, upper-middle class guys who had mixed financial success in other endeavors and run-ins with the law. Both also frequently traveled to Russia.

According to the report by Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley, the two — Murgio as chapter president and Aaron as treasurer — ran something of a money making machine out of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity, with fraternity brothers working shifts to write Google ads for thousands of dollars a month in commissions.

But none of their friends and family seem to have expected the indictments the FBI handed down, which are outlined in the story:

"Murgio is accused of running a Bitcoin exchange that laundered money for hackers. Aaron is accused of a pump-and-dump scam that used expertly crafted spam e-mails to lure investors into worthless penny stock purchases, generating $2.8 million in illicit profits. Although those indictments don’t involve hacking, an FBI memo reviewed by Bloomberg also links the two men to last summer’s cyber attack on JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest bank hacks in U.S. history."

They were two out of the five Americans charged in relation to the hacking incident. One other man was also a Florida State alumnus.

This is the newest information we have on the Murgio and Aaron:

1. Both came from affluent families. 

Aaron grew up in well-to-do Washington suburb. Murgio's family owned a home next to a private golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. 

2. During college, Aaron was a door-to-door knife salesman before teaching Murgio and fraternity brothers the more lucrative Google ad business. 

According to Bloomberg, Murgio wrote on a personal web page that he'd “started working for major corporations. Was flown all over the world, taken out to dinners all day and night … lots of fun.”

3. Aaron dropped out of university in 2005, and moved to Miami to start businesses in Palmetto Bay.

The businesses ranged from air purifiers to an Internet marketing firm. But in 2011, he got involved in a stock fraud scheme, according to his indictment, Bloomberg reported.

Aaron moved to Israel later, and in 2014 married a tax lawyer he'd met in the country. 

4. Murgio said he made $800,000 in college. 

Some of the capital may have come from a job building vacation-rental websites. Murgio used it to open a restaurant and nightclub after graduation in 2007. 

5. Murgio went bankrupt in 2012, citing $545,000 in debt. Murgio also had a run-in with the law in early 2013.

He was charged with stealing $111,000 in unreported sales taxes. But Murgio said it was a paperwork mistake, and charges were dropped once he paid the government.

6. Murgio and Aaron met often in Russia, and Murgio went to Moscow at least half-a-dozen times starting in 2014— even though they kept limited contact after Aaron moved to Israel post-graduation.

The FBI suspects the two are linked to elite Russian hackers who did the brunt of the work in the JPMorgan Hack. According to Bloomberg, court documents show Murgio also worked with Russian payment processors while there.

7. They enjoyed being in Russia.

Two weeks before they were charged, Aaron posted a photo of the two of them in Moscow. Murgio also posted photos of himself living the high life, sipping vodka and smoking a hookah in a club. “Doesn’t get better,” Murgio wrote in one caption. “If it wasn’t 25 degrees, I wouldn’t leave."

Read the full Bloomberg article here.

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NOW WATCH: Mark Cuban explains why a 401(k) is a no-brainer

A judge ruled that bitcoins don't have the 'tangible qualities' needed to constitute owned property by Japanese law

Consumers who take online surveys through Qualtrics can now choose to redeem their rewards in bitcoin.

Bitcoin price edged lower today into strong buying support. Despite being technically in decline, the current move may not continue pulling lower. In a telling misfire, the Bank of England disappointed markets today when it, too, displayed can-kicking behavior that sent the pound tumbling. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 16h58 UTC Bitstamp 1-Hour Chart From the analysis pages of xbt.social, earlier today: Clear targets are not forthcoming for this […]

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Tokyo's district court has ruled that it's not possible for people to own bitcoin, and therefore they can't sue for compensation in the wake of Mt. Gox's collapse. The ruling comes a few days after the head of what used to be the world's largest bi...

Poloniex, a U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, has left New York due to the restrictions and limitations of the state’s BitLicense. Including Poloniex, three bitcoin startups have shut down their operations in New York during the past few months and declined to comply with BitLicense, a set of rules that restricts operations of Bitcoin exchanges and demands startups to pay fees to operate legally. Size For a relatively small exchange or startup like Poloniex, BitLicense’s requirement that Bitcoin startups to pay a $5,000 non-refundable application fee to operate and continue their services in New York is not an easy demand to satisfy. “There are always pros and cons to regulations like BitLicense, but from a small business perspective, BitLicense is both limiting […]

The post Another Bitcoin Startup Leaves NY Due to BitLicense appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Leading Mexican bitcoin exchange meXBT has acquired CoinRepublic, the most respected and established bitcoin brokerage in Singapore as a part of its plan to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Through the acquisition of CoinRepublic, meXBT will benefit from the networks of the Singaporean exchange, which includes local banks, exchanges and financial institutions. The pre-existent customer base and reputation of CoinRepublic will enable meXBT to enter the Singaporean market with ease, and establish itself as a major bitcoin exchange in the country. “I am very excited,” Gabriel Miron, founder and CEO of meXBT announced. “CoinRepublic is a highly respected brand in the Asian market, and acquiring their business and brand gives us access to participate in one of the most developed […]

The post Leading Mexican Bitcoin Exchange Expands to Singapore, Acquires Coin Republic appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Representatives at a Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Germany this June announced support for "appropriate regulation of virtual currencies".

 Hello dear friends, and welcome back to another episode of TCBTC, TechCrunch’s bitcoin podcast. Akin to the proverbial ancient turtle, we are still here. This time around, John Biggs came back from Poland, and I sat in a conference room in San Francisco to avoid direct sunlight. On the docket is a recent TechCrunch article on the evolution and maturation of bitcoin itself, a short note… Read More

GitHub, the repository hosting service used by many open source software projects, has adopted the Open Code of Conduct developed by the TODO Group. All seems good - except one thing.

The post GitHub Promotes 'Reverse' Racism and Sexism appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

According to recent reporting by South Florida's Sun Sentinel, the government has managed to crack a TrueCrypt password in the case of Christopher Glenn. Army counterintelligence expert Gerald Parsons noted that in his estimation, it would have taken "billions" of years to do so by traditional methods with current capabilities.

The post FBI Cracks Florida Man's TrueCrypt Password appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Lawyer.com, an online lawyer directory, is now accepting bitcoin as a payment method for its lawyer members. Lawyers also get a 10 percent monthly membership discount for paying with bitcoin. The 6-year-old website matches people looking for lawyers with its thousands of lawyer members. Lawyers pay between $99 and $299 per month for the service. By paying with bitcoin, they will get a 10 percent discount on these fees. Allowing members to pay with bitcoin will permit faster and cheaper transactions, company CEO Gerry Gorman told CCN. Bitcoin Cuts Transaction Costs, Adds Efficiencies “Bitcoin transactions reduce our costs, improve transaction […]

The post Online Lawyer Directory Lawyer.com Now Accepts Bitcoin Payment appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Following the collapse of Mt. Gox and the subsequent case of the missing 750,000 BTC, much legal legal has been undertaken, from bankruptcy filing to damage suits against what was once the world's leading Bitcoin exchange, market maker, and price setter. For some time, a lawsuit regarding 458 BTC has been proceeding in a Tokyo court, a Kyoto claimant asking that the court rule his money be returned. Also read: Mt. Gox's Mark Karpeles: Of Cats, Temp. Unavailable Bitcoins & Double Lattes With Whipped Cream In a surprising turn of events counter to rulings in places like Kentucky, Judge Masumi […]

The post Japanese Court: Bitcoins Not "Tangible Property" appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

HashingSpace Corporation (OTCQB: HSHS) announced today that it has secured the services of Ross & Baruzzini, a leading architectural and engineering firm specializing in mission critical facilities to design HashingSpace’s state of the art data center. HashingSpace’s mission is to build out key infrastructure for the global adoption of Bitcoin and Blockchain services with hosted ASIC mining. WENATCHEE, WA / August 5, 2015 / HashingSpace Corporation (OTCQB: HSHS), a Bitcoin ASIC mining and hosting company, announced today that the company has reached an agreement for the services of Ross & Baruzzini to design HashingSpace’s state of the art, Fortress One […]

The post Bitcoin and Blockchain Focused HashingSpace Retains Services of Ross & Baruzzini to Design Its Fortress One Data Center appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

BitGo, a multi-signature Bitcoin wallet, has introduced dynamic transaction fees to give users more options. The dynamic fees are in response to longer transaction times driven by an increase in transaction volumes. Users can now select fees that price automatically based predictable processing periods. “Many transactions have taken longer than usual to confirm,” BitGo notes on its website. “As of (this) writing, the number of unconfirmed transactions is now well into the tens of thousands and continues to rise. To the user, this means that important operations such as exchange deposits are being delayed for hours, with no guarantee of […]

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Mathematics is all around us, and it has shaped our understanding of the world in countless ways.

In 2013, mathematician and science author Ian Stewart published a book on 17 Equations That Changed The World. We recently came across this convenient table on Dr. Paul Coxon's twitter account by mathematics tutor and blogger Larry Phillips that summarizes the equations. (Our explanation of each is below):

Here is a little bit more about these wonderful equations that have shaped mathematics and human history:

1) The Pythagorean Theorem: This theorem is foundational to our understanding of geometry. It describes the relationship between the sides of a right triangle on a flat plane: square the lengths of the short sides, a and b, add those together, and you get the square of the length of the long side, c.

This relationship, in some ways, actually distinguishes our normal, flat, Euclidean geometry from curved, non-Euclidean geometry. For example, a right triangle drawn on the surface of a sphere need not follow the Pythagorean theorem.

2) Logarithms: Logarithms are the inverses, or opposites, of exponential functions. A logarithm for a particular base tells you what power you need to raise that base to to get a number. For example, the base 10 logarithm of 1 is log(1) = 0, since 1 = 10⁰; log(10) = 1, since 10 = 10¹; and log(100) = 2, since 100 = 10².

The equation in the graphic, log(ab) = log(a) + log(b), shows one of the most useful applications of logarithms: they turn multiplication into addition.

Until the development of the digital computer, this was the most common way to quickly multiply together large numbers, greatly speeding up calculations in physics, astronomy, and engineering. 

3) Calculus: The formula given here is the definition of the derivative in calculus. The derivative measures the rate at which a quantity is changing. For example, we can think of velocity, or speed, as being the derivative of position — if you are walking at 3 miles per hour, then every hour, you have changed your position by 3 miles.

Naturally, much of science is interested in understanding how things change, and the derivative and the integral — the other foundation of calculus — sit at the heart of how mathematicians and scientists understand change.

4) Law of Gravity: Newton's law of gravitation describes the force of gravity between two objects, F, in terms of a universal constant, G, the masses of the two objects, m₁ and m₂, and the distance between the objects, r. Newton's law is a remarkable piece of scientific history — it explains, almost perfectly, why the planets move in the way they do. Also remarkable is its universal nature — this is not just how gravity works on Earth, or in our solar system, but anywhere in the universe.

Newton's gravity held up very well for two hundred years, and it was not until Einstein's theory of general relativity that it would be replaced.

5) The square root of -1: Mathematicians have always been expanding the idea of what numbers actually are, going from natural numbers, to negative numbers, to fractions, to the real numbers. The square root of -1, usually written i, completes this process, giving rise to the complex numbers.

Mathematically, the complex numbers are supremely elegant. Algebra works perfectly the way we want it to — any equation has a complex number solution, a situation that is not true for the real numbers : x² + 4 = 0 has no real number solution, but it does have a complex solution: the square root of -4, or 2i. Calculus can be extended to the complex numbers, and by doing so, we find some amazing symmetries and properties of these numbers. Those properties make the complex numbers essential in electronics and signal processing.

6) Euler's Polyhedra Formula: Polyhedra are the three-dimensional versions of polygons, like the cube to the right. The corners of a polyhedron are called its vertices, the lines connecting the vertices are its edges, and the polygons covering it are its faces.

A cube has 8 vertices, 12 edges, and 6 faces. If I add the vertices and faces together, and subtract the edges, I get 8 + 6 - 12 = 2.

Euler's formula states that, as long as your polyhedron is somewhat well behaved, if you add the vertices and faces together, and subtract the edges, you will always get 2. This will be true whether your polyhedron has 4, 8, 12, 20, or any number of faces.

Euler's observation was one of the first examples of what is now called a topological invariant — some number or property shared by a class of shapes that are similar to each other. The entire class of "well-behaved" polyhedra will have V + F - E = 2. This observation, along with with Euler's solution to the Bridges of Konigsburg problem, paved the way to the development of topology, a branch of math essential to modern physics.

7) Normal distribution: The normal probability distribution, which has the familiar bell curve graph to the left, is ubiquitous in statistics.

The normal curve is used in physics, biology, and the social sciences to model various properties. One of the reasons the normal curve shows up so often is that it describes the behavior of large groups of independent processes.

8) Wave Equation: This is a differential equation, or an equation that describes how a property is changing through time in terms of that property's derivative, as above. The wave equation describes the behavior of waves — a vibrating guitar string, ripples in a pond after a stone is thrown, or light coming out of an incandescent bulb. The wave equation was an early differential equation, and the techniques developed to solve the equation opened the door to understanding other differential equations as well.

9) Fourier Transform: The Fourier transform is essential to understanding more complex wave structures, like human speech. Given a complicated, messy wave function like a recording of a person talking, the Fourier transform allows us to break the messy function into a combination of a number of simple waves, greatly simplifying analysis.

 The Fourier transform is at the heart of modern signal processing and analysis, and data compression. 

10) Navier-Stokes Equations: Like the wave equation, this is a differential equation. The Navier-Stokes equations describes the behavior of flowing fluids — water moving through a pipe, air flow over an airplane wing, or smoke rising from a cigarette. While we have approximate solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations that allow computers to simulate fluid motion fairly well, it is still an open question (with a million dollar prize) whether it is possible to construct mathematically exact solutions to the equations.

11) Maxwell's Equations: This set of four differential equations describes the behavior of and relationship between electricity (E) and magnetism (H).

Maxwell's equations are to classical electromagnetism as Newton's laws of motion and law of universal gravitation are to classical mechanics — they are the foundation of our explanation of how electromagnetism works on a day to day scale. As we will see, however, modern physics relies on a quantum mechanical explanation of electromagnetism, and it is now clear that these elegant equations are just an approximation that works well on human scales.

12) Second Law of Thermodynamics: This states that, in a closed system, entropy (S) is always steady or increasing. Thermodynamic entropy is, roughly speaking, a measure of how disordered a system is. A system that starts out in an ordered, uneven state — say, a hot region next to a cold region — will always tend to even out, with heat flowing from the hot area to the cold area until evenly distributed.

The second law of thermodynamics is one of the few cases in physics where time matters in this way. Most physical processes are reversible — we can run the equations backwards without messing things up. The second law, however, only runs in this direction. If we put an ice cube in a cup of hot coffee, we always see the ice cube melt, and never see the coffee freeze.

13) Relativity: Einstein radically altered the course of physics with his theories of special and general relativity. The classic equation E = mc² states that matter and energy are equivalent to each other. Special relativity brought in ideas like the speed of light being a universal speed limit and the passage of time being different for people moving at different speeds.

General relativity describes gravity as a curving and folding of space and time themselves, and was the first major change to our understanding of gravity since Newton's law. General relativity is essential to our understanding of the origins, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe.

14) Schrodinger's Equation: This is the main equation in quantum mechanics. As general relativity explains our universe at its largest scales, this equation governs the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles.

Modern quantum mechanics and general relativity are the two most successful scientific theories in history — all of the experimental observations we have made to date are entirely consistent with their predictions. Quantum mechanics is also necessary for most modern technology — nuclear power, semiconductor-based computers, and lasers are all built around quantum phenomena.

15) Information Theory: The equation given here is for Shannon information entropy. As with the thermodynamic entropy given above, this is a measure of disorder. In this case, it measures the information content of a message — a book, a JPEG picture sent on the internet, or anything that can be represented symbolically. The Shannon entropy of a message represents a lower bound on how much that message can be compressed without losing some of its content.

Shannon's entropy measure launched the mathematical study of information, and his results are central to how we communicate over networks today.

16) Chaos Theory: This equation is May's logistic map. It describes a process evolving through time — x_t+1, the level of some quantity x in the next time period — is given by the formula on the right, and it depends on x_t, the level of x right now. k is a chosen constant. For certain values of k, the map shows chaotic behavior: if we start at some particular initial value of x, the process will evolve one way, but if we start at another initial value, even one very very close to the first value, the process will evolve a completely different way.

We see chaotic behavior — behavior sensitive to initial conditions — like this in many areas. Weather is a classic example — a small change in atmospheric conditions on one day can lead to completely different weather systems a few days later, most commonly captured in the idea of a butterfly flapping its wings on one continent causing a hurricane on another continent. 

17) Black-Scholes Equation: Another differential equation, Black-Scholes describes how finance experts and traders find prices for derivatives. Derivatives — financial products based on some underlying asset, like a stock — are a major part of the modern financial system.

The Black-Scholes equation allows financial professionals to calculate the value of these financial products, based on the properties of the derivative and the underlying asset.

NOW WATCH: We Can Guess Your Name Based On What State You Live In

SEE ALSO: Computer Genius Builds Language That Lets Anyone Calculate Anything

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Tokyo's District Court made a landmark ruling Wednesday that bitcoin is "not subject to ownership".

For €50 in bitcoin, Energy Control provides anyone in the world with a breakdown of the purity of their drugs – no questions asked.

Bitcoin Press Release: Licensed UK Bitcoin exchange Bit-x recently released Bitcoin debit cards fully funded by users’ cryptocurrency balances. Bitcoin enthusiasts and professionals can now spend Bitcoin worldwide, anywhere debit cards are accepted – online, in-store, and withdraw cash from ATMs at any location. Licensed UK based cryptocurrency trading platform Bit-x.com offers a range of services including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and GH/s trading and Bitcoin cloud mining. Bit-x are now proud to present the future of Bitcoin debit cards issued and processed by Bit-x’s exclusive bank partner. Bit-x Card’s can be used anywhere debit cards are accepted. Users can withdraw money from ATMs worldwide, direct from their Bit-x account containing BTC, LTC, USD, EUR and GBP. The card can also be […]

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Bitcoin Press Release: Licensed UK Bitcoin exchange Bit-x recently released Bitcoin debit cards fully funded by users’ cryptocurrency balances. Bitcoin enthusiasts and professionals can now spend Bitcoin worldwide, anywhere debit cards are accepted – online, in-store, and withdraw cash from ATMs at any location. Licensed UK based cryptocurrency trading platform Bit-x.com offers a range of services including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and GH/s trading and Bitcoin cloud mining. Bit-x are now proud to present the future of Bitcoin debit cards issued and processed by Bit-x’s exclusive bank partner. Bit-x Card’s can be used anywhere debit cards are accepted. Users can withdraw money from ATMs worldwide, direct from their Bit-x account containing BTC, LTC, USD, EUR and GBP. The card can also be […]

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BitCasino.io, the world’s first legally licensed and regulated online Bitcoin-only casino gaming operator, has announced the launch of its sportsbook for the new English Premiership football season commencing 8th August 2015. The new bitcoin sportsbook will provide over 10,000 live betting markets per week, including popular fast-developing betting markets such as MMA and eSports. A spokesperson for BitCasino.io said, “We have over 100,000 Bitcoin players and many of them have been asking for the ability to place sports bets with our brand. This new sportsbook allows our players, the ability to place larger bets on sport with better odds, instant deposits and cash-outs compared with based operators.   To celebrate the launch of our new sports book, we have a […]

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HashingSpace Corporation (OTCQB: HSHS) announced today that it has secured the services of Ross & Baruzzini, a leading architectural and engineering firm specializing in mission critical facilities to design HashingSpace’s state of the art data center. HashingSpace’s mission is to build out key infrastructure for the global adoption of Bitcoin and Blockchain services with hosted ASIC mining. WENATCHEE, WA / August 5, 2015 / HashingSpace Corporation (OTCQB: HSHS), a Bitcoin ASIC mining and hosting company, announced today that the company has reached an agreement for the services of Ross & Baruzzini to design HashingSpace’s state of the art, Fortress One Data Center. For more than 60 years, Ross & Baruzzini has tackled challenging and ambitious advanced engineering and architecture projects […]

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