Shakeeb Ahmed, a cybersecurity engineer convicted of stealing around $12 million in crypto, was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison.
The sentencing, announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in a press release, marks the culmination of Ahmed’s legal proceedings.
Ahmed was charged with hacking into two cryptocurrency exchanges and absconding with roughly $12 million in cryptocurrency assets, as detailed by prosecutors. Represented by lawyers Adam Schwartz and Bradley Bondi, Ahmed did not immediately offer a response to the sentencing.
Initially described as a “senior security engineer for an international technology company” at the time of his arrest, Ahmed’s LinkedIn profile indicated previous employment at Amazon. However, Amazon clarified that he was not employed with them at the time of his apprehension.
One of the targeted exchanges, Crema Finance, operating on the Solana blockchain, was breached by Ahmed in early July 2022. Shortly thereafter, Ahmed similarly infiltrated Nirvana Finance, siphoning off $9 million and $3.6 million in cryptocurrency, respectively. The substantial theft from Nirvana Finance resulted in the complete depletion of its funds, leading to the exchange’s closure.
Ahmed admitted guilt to orchestrating both cyberattacks. Following the breach of Crema Finance, Ahmed attempted to negotiate with the company for the return of the stolen funds, proposing a fee of $1.5 million in exchange for not disclosing the attack to authorities. Crema declined the offer, ultimately leading to Ahmed’s capture.
While such arrangements, termed “white hatting” in the crypto sphere, have become somewhat normalized within the industry, law enforcement views them differently. Despite industry acceptance, Ahmed’s case underscores the legal ramifications of unauthorized fund retrieval.
In addition to the prison term, Ahmed was sentenced to three years of supervised release and instructed to forfeit $12.4 million, alongside a significant amount of cryptocurrency. He is also obligated to pay restitution exceeding $5 million to the affected exchanges, as stipulated by prosecutors’ press release.
