The complete, unhinged, fully documented story of John "Lick" Daghita, the 21-year-old who vibe-coded a fake exchange, robbed the U.S. government, posed with a Lambo outside FBI headquarters, and got exposed in a Telegram flexing contest he didn't even need to join.
Most people at 21 are figuring out how to do laundry. John Daghita was building a fake cryptocurrency exchange using an AI chatbot to siphon $40 million from government seizure wallets managed by his father's company. Different lanes.
His father, Dean Daghita, runs Command Services & Support, Inc. (CMDSS), which won a $4 million contract to guard the very crypto his son was allegedly stealing.
"I vibe coded the whole thing on Cursor... Their crypto reserve is like 36 bill... They got burned. They're dumb."
According to John Daghita, the correct response to being caught stealing $40 million is to buy a $900,000 Telegram username.
(Unaudited, Obviously)
| Line Item | Amount | ROI Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Total Stolen from U.S. Government | $40,000,000+ | Impressive, until you get caught |
| Total On-Chain Linked Theft | $90,000,000+ | More money than most will see in a lifetime |
| Largest Single Heist (Bitfinex funds) | $24,900,000 | Stolen from money that was already stolen |
| Spent on Telegram Handle @devil | $780,000 | For a username |
| Spent on Telegram Handle @fraud | $900,000 | The irony writes itself |
| Lost to Fake Clavicular Scam | $100,000 | The scammer got scammed |
| $LICK Meme Coin Peak | $915,000 | Briefly |
| $LICK Meme Coin 24hr Later | ~$25,000 | There it is |
| Wumpus Corp Peak Market Cap | $3,000,000 | Round two of the same trick |
| Dad's CMDSS Contract Value | $4,000,000 | That the son apparently destroyed |
*These figures are unaudited because auditing would require John Daghita to stop committing new financial crimes for long enough to count the previous ones.
In 2016, Ilya Lichtenstein hacked Bitfinex and stole 119,756 Bitcoin. In 2022, the U.S. government seized ~94,000 BTC from Lichtenstein. In 2024, the government hired CMDSS to manage the seized crypto. In 2024, the CMDSS CEO's son allegedly stole $24.9 million of those same funds. In 2026, a random person on Telegram called him poor, and the whole thing collapsed.
The prediction market question: "John Daghita arrested by March 31?"
The prediction market accumulated over $27,000 in volume. Daghita's response was to buy shares in the 'No' direction, pushing his implied arrest probability below 1%.
Bold strategy for someone whose wallet addresses are public record.