Allowing roughly 30,765 ETH (around $71 million) tied to the rsETH exploit recovery to be transferred to Aave LLC while the legal case continues.


The ruling came from Judge Margaret Garnett in the Southern District of New York after emergency motions were filed regarding frozen assets connected to the April 2026 rsETH/KelpDAO exploit. The court clarified that:



  • Arbitrum DAO governance voting can proceed legally.


  • Participants voting or executing the on-chain transfer will not violate the restraining notice.


  • The restraining order will “follow” the ETH after transfer, meaning Aave LLC must continue holding the assets under court restrictions until the case is resolved.


The frozen ETH originated from recovery efforts after the rsETH exploit, which reportedly involved over $290 million and was linked by investigators to North Korean Lazarus Group activity.


The updated recovery plan keeps the funds reserved for affected users and DeFi recovery operations rather than releasing them freely. Aave LLC has also agreed to comply with all court obligations during the ongoing proceedings.