Shakeeb Ahmed, a safety engineer who stole over $12 million from two completely different decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges (DEXs) constructed on Solana, was sentenced to 3 years in jail and three years of supervised launch by a federal choose on Friday.
Ahmed was arrested final yr on wire fraud and cash laundering prices, after federal officers alleged he stole $9 million from a DEX constructed on Solana – which seems to be Crema Finance. He pleaded responsible to at least one depend of laptop fraud in December.
He may also forfeit $12.3 million and pay $5 million in restitution as a part of his sentence.
Prosecutors requested for a four-year sentence, noting that the statutory most was 5 years however Ahmed had accepted duty by pleading responsible and surrendering the proceeds of the hacks and due to this fact warranted “a barely under Pointers variance,” in accordance with a sentencing memo filed final week.
Ahmed’s protection crew argued for no jail time, saying that along with his acceptance of duty, he had voluntarily disclosed his hack of Nirvana Finance to prosecutors.
“Shakeeb already had been indicted for the Crypto Alternate hack, and the federal government had supplied Shakeeb a deal to plead responsible to that hack,” the protection submitting stated. “Though Shakeeb knew that disclosing one other hack would end in extra penalties, and will take his favorable plea deal off of the desk, Shakeeb voluntarily got here ahead anyway.”
In an announcement, U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated Ahmed’s responsible plea was “the primary ever conviction for the hack of a wise contract.”
“Regardless of how novel or refined the hack, this Workplace and our regulation enforcement companions are dedicated to following the cash and bringing hackers to justice. And as at the moment’s sentence exhibits, time in jail – and forfeiture of all of the stolen crypto – is the inevitable consequence of such damaging hacks,” he stated.