The hackers were ordered to forfeit assets valued at $12.3 million and pay $5 million in restitution.

A United States court has sentenced Shakeeb Ahmed to three years in prison for hacking two different decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges and stealing over $12 million worth of digital assets, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on April 12.

The verdict marks the first time someone has been convicted of hacking a smart contract.

US Attorney Damian Williams said:

“No matter how novel or sophisticated the hack, this Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to following the funds and bringing the hackers to justice. As today’s sentencing demonstrates, prison time and full forfeiture of the stolen cryptocurrency are inevitable and well-deserved punishment for such destructive hacking.”

Ahmed was also ordered to surrender approximately $12.3 million and a large amount of cryptocurrency, and to pay more than $5 million in restitution to unnamed cryptocurrency exchanges and Nirvana.

Hacking

In 2022, Ahmed obtained a large amount of digital assets by hacking into the smart contracts of two decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges, including Nirvana and an unnamed protocol.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Ahmed stole about $9 million in inflated fees by manipulating price data on an undisclosed platform and withdrawing the funds in cryptocurrency. He later agreed to return about $7.5 million in exchange for the exchange's promise not to involve law enforcement.

Soon after, Ahmed targeted Nirvana Finance and stole approximately $3.6 million. According to the Justice Department, Ahmed used Nirvana’s smart contracts to buy cryptocurrencies from exchanges at lower prices and sell them at higher prices.

Although the exchange offered a $600,000 reward for the recovery of the stolen funds, Ahmed insisted on $1.4 million. This stalemate led to the continued occupation of all stolen funds and eventually became one of the reasons why the exchange had to be closed.

Ahmed then used sophisticated techniques, including token swap transactions and advanced crypto mixers such as Samourai Whirlpool, to launder the stolen digital assets.

At the time of these thefts, Ahmed was a senior security engineer at an unnamed international technology company. #美国 #DEFI #黑客