Back in 2017, we learned about the biggest heist in EVE Online history (opens in new tab): A year-long inside job that ultimately made off with an estimated 1.5 triillion ISK, worth around $10,000 in real money. But now another EVE player claims to have pulled off a heist worth significantly more than that—and with significantly less work involved.
The 2017 heist, like so many of EVE’s most interesting stories, relied primarily on social engineering: Investing months or years of time into grooming a target before pulling the rug out from beneath them. But redditor Flam_Hill (opens in new tab) said this job was less bloody: Instead of betrayal, this theft was dependent upon learning and exploiting the “shares mechanic” in EVE Online in order to leverage a takeover of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, a 299-member corporation that was part of the Pandemic Horde alliance.
Using a “clean account with a character with a little history,” Flan_Hill and an unnamed partner applied for membership in the EHEXP corporation. After the account was accepted, Flan_Hill transferred enough of his shares in the corporation to the infiltrator to enable a call for a vote for a new CEO. The conspirators both voted yes, while nobody else in the corporation voted at all.
This was vital, because after 72 hours the two “yes” votes carried the day. The infiltrating agent was very suddenly made CEO, which was in turn used to make Flan_Hill an Event Horizon Expeditionaries director, at which point they removed all the other corporate directors and set to emptying the coffers.
They stripped 130 billion ISK from the corporate wallet, but that was only a small part of the haul: Counting all stolen assets, including multiple large ships, Flam_Hill estimated the total value of the heist at 2.23 trillion ISK, which works out to more than $22,300 in real money. ISK can’t be legally cashed out of EVE Online, but it can be used to buy Plex (opens in new tab), an in-game currency used to upgrade accounts, purchase virtual goods, and activate other services.
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The one aspect of the story that some redditors took issue with is the origin of the 1,000 shares in Event Horizon Expeditionaries that made this theft possible in the first place.
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It all comes down to EVE’s corporation voting system (opens in new tab): Any member of a corporation holding more than 5% of the total shares can start a vote, and—this is what it really comes down to—”the option that gains more than 50% of cast votes wins the vote.” This is why the inattentiveness of EHEXP membership was so vital: Flam_Hill and his partner were the only ones to vote “yes,” so they had 100% of the cast votes and were thus able to seize power.
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EVE Online developer CCP Games eliminated any doubt by confirming that the heist did in fact take place, although it declined to comment on the value of the theft.
In the end, it turned out that the “former CEO” theory was correct. Speaking to PC Gamer, the mastermind of the heist, known in EVE as Sienna d’Orien—real name Dave—confirmed that he was in fact the founder and former chief of Event Horizon Expeditionaries, which is how he had the shares in the company that enabled the takeover. He quit EVE in 2018, citing burnout and other priorities, but returned in 2022 to find EHEXP “a shell of its former self.”
After forming a new group, Dave reached out to the corporation to inquire about getting some of his old assets back, but was ignored. His partner in the heist, Packratt, then brought up the shares mechanic, and they went to work. They were aided by a third friend and former EHEXP member, Highlander McLeod, who handled some of the research in order to keep d’Orien’s name out of it—although McLeod was kept in the dark about the job until it was over, in order to ensure operational security.
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They managed to pull the job off with virtually complete anonymity, but Dave said he’s stepping out of the shadows because “it will get out eventually” anyway—and it probably doesn’t hurt that he can now bask in the glory of the moment.
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As for Dave, who’s now playing “in a new corp with old mates,” he acknowledged that the heist could complicate his in-game life somewhat: He’ll be an interstellar folk hero to some (people love a good EVE heist) but no doubt a villain—and a target—in the eyes of others.
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Source: EVE Online player uses obscure rule to pull off the biggest heist in the game’s history | PC Gamer
Robin Edgar
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