Former security engineer Shakeeb Ahmed was sentenced to three years in prison on Friday after prosecutors said he hacked two decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges and stole $12 million worth of cryptocurrency.
The case involves the first conviction for smart contract hacking, said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. name On Friday. Ahmed previously plead They are suspected of hacking the exchange.
“No matter how new and sophisticated the hack, our office and our law enforcement partners are committed to tracking the money and bringing hackers to justice,” Williams said. “And as today’s sentencing demonstrates, jail time and the forfeiture of all stolen cryptocurrency are the inevitable consequences of such a destructive hack.”
Ahmed, 34 years old, what? charged Last July, an incident involving wire fraud and money laundering occurred. Prosecutors said he attacked a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, used fake price data to earn $9 million worth of fees, and then withdrew those fees in cryptocurrency. A few weeks later, Ahmed launched a second attack on decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Nirvana Finance. Prosecutors say he later laundered the millions of dollars he stole, including using a cryptocurrency mixer to hide ownership.
Ahmed was ordered on Friday to forfeit approximately $12.3 million and a significant amount of cryptocurrency and pay $5 million in restitution to an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange and Nirvana, according to a statement from the Justice Department.
in court
Prosecutors had sought four years in prison for Ahmed, according to court documents.
Ahmed told the court on Friday that he felt lost.
“I got lost. I apologize to Nirvana Finance users,” Ahmed said. Inner City Press. “(Sobbing) I grew up in a harsh, harsh household. I was fascinated by technology. I was lost. During the pandemic, I turned to cryptocurrency.”
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet delivering news, research and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor in The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the cryptocurrency space. Cryptocurrency exchange Bitget is an anchor LP of Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to provide objective, impactful and timely information about the cryptocurrency industry. Below are our current financial disclosures.
© 2023 The Block. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.
About the author
Sarah is a reporter for The Block covering policy, regulation and legal events. Sarah was previously a reporter writing about securities regulation at CQ Legal, where she first began her reporting on cryptocurrencies. She Sarah has also written for The Bond Buyer and American Banker, among other financial publications. She graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Print and Digital Journalism. Sarah lives in Washington, DC and she is an avid coffee lover. You can follow her on Twitter @ForTheWynn.