AMA: I made a feature documentary on The DAO, smart contract exploits, and the hackers who say they broke no laws

I’m James Craig, one of the directors of new documentary Code is Law – the true story of the smart contract hacks that challenged what counts as a crime. AMA!

Trailer for Code is Law

Hey everyone – I’m James, a UK-based investigative journalist and first-time indie filmmaker. I’ve spent the past two years alongside my fellow director Louis Giles making Code is Law, a feature-length documentary about some of the most infamous exploits in Ethereum’s history.

The film explores a wave of massive smart contract hacks where attackers stole millions — and then claimed it was all perfectly legal. Starting with The DAO, it traces a lineage of exploits including Indexed Finance, KyberSwap, and Mango Markets, where the phrase “code is law” went from meme to courtroom defence.

We speak to the developers, investigators, and white hats who lived through these events – including the hunt for Andean Medjedovic, a teenage math prodigy who stole $65 million and became the first hacker to claim “code is law”. Medjedovic is now a fugitive from FBI charges who has been on the run for almost five years.

The film also covers the case of Avraham Eisenberg, whose $110 million Mango Markets exploit became the first courtroom test of the 'code is law' defence – and set a legal precedent with global implications.

TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDjfymuTIw

Streaming from Oct 21 on Apple TV, Amazon Prime & Vimeo
More info / clips / updates: https://x.com/CodeIsLawFilm

Full release info: Journeyman.tv

Featured cast (alongside X usernames):

The DAO
• Griff Green – Community Manager (@thegrifft)
• Christoph Jentzsch – Creator (@ChrJentzsch)
• Simon Jentzsch – Co-creator (@simon_jentzsch)
• Lefteris Karapetsas – Developer (@lefterisJP)
• Fabian Vogelsteller – Curator (@feindura)

Indexed Finance
• Laurence Day – Technical contributor @functi0nZer0)
• Dillon Kellar – Founder (@d1ll0nk)

White Hat Group & Investigators
• Ogle (@cryptogle)

Security Researchers
• Daniel Luca (@cleanunicorn)
• Goncalo Sá (@feindura)

Academics
• Paul Dylan-Ennis (@post_polar_)

Ask me anything about the film, the real cases it covers, or the legal/ethical minefield of 'code is law.' Happy to talk about how we tracked down and interviewed key figures from Ethereum's early days, white hats, and victims of nine-figure exploits – and what it took to get them on camera.