diff --git a/federationapi/routing/send.go b/federationapi/routing/send.go
index f8b8bcd6f..d4bbe31c6 100644
--- a/federationapi/routing/send.go
+++ b/federationapi/routing/send.go
@@ -872,7 +872,7 @@ func (t *txnReq) lookupMissingStateViaStateIDs(ctx context.Context, roomID, even
 		h, err = t.lookupEvent(ctx, roomVersion, missingEventID, false)
 		switch err.(type) {
 		case verifySigError:
-			break
+			return
 		case nil:
 			break
 		default: