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Among the victims of the attacker was Nirvana Finance.
Shakib Ahmed, a former senior cybersecurity engineer at an American IT company, pleaded guilty to hacking two decentralized crypto exchanges and stealing more than $ 12.3 million worth of digital assets.
According to the investigation of the US prosecutor's office, the first victim of the 34-year-old hacker was the exchange, referred to in the case materials as "Crypto Exchange". On July 2-3, 2022, Ahmed used a vulnerability in one of the smart contracts to get an inflated commission of about $9 million. After that, the hacker offered the exchange administration to return the stolen assets (with the exception of $ 1.5 million) in exchange for non-disclosure of information about hacking to law enforcement agencies.
A few weeks later, on July 28, he attacked another decentralized service-the Nirvana Finance protocol, which traded the ANA cryptotoken. With the help of a $10 million flash loan, Ahmed bought a package of ANA coins at a low price, then resold them to the platform at an inflated rate and received $3.6 million in illegal profits.
Nirvana was ready to pay the hacker up to $600 thousand for reporting the vulnerability, but he demanded $1.4 million. Without reaching an agreement, the attacker stole all the funds, which led to the closure of the platform.
To hide the traces, the fraudster used complex financial schemes, including converting crypts into anonymous Monero, cross-chain transfers, foreign exchanges and mixers. Despite this, it was possible to expose him.
Ahmed pleaded guilty to computer fraud, agreed to confiscate stolen assets worth $12.3 million, and also returned $5 million to the victims. He faces up to 5 years in prison, the verdict will be announced on March 13, 2024.
Shakib Ahmed, a former senior cybersecurity engineer at an American IT company, pleaded guilty to hacking two decentralized crypto exchanges and stealing more than $ 12.3 million worth of digital assets.
According to the investigation of the US prosecutor's office, the first victim of the 34-year-old hacker was the exchange, referred to in the case materials as "Crypto Exchange". On July 2-3, 2022, Ahmed used a vulnerability in one of the smart contracts to get an inflated commission of about $9 million. After that, the hacker offered the exchange administration to return the stolen assets (with the exception of $ 1.5 million) in exchange for non-disclosure of information about hacking to law enforcement agencies.
A few weeks later, on July 28, he attacked another decentralized service-the Nirvana Finance protocol, which traded the ANA cryptotoken. With the help of a $10 million flash loan, Ahmed bought a package of ANA coins at a low price, then resold them to the platform at an inflated rate and received $3.6 million in illegal profits.
Nirvana was ready to pay the hacker up to $600 thousand for reporting the vulnerability, but he demanded $1.4 million. Without reaching an agreement, the attacker stole all the funds, which led to the closure of the platform.
To hide the traces, the fraudster used complex financial schemes, including converting crypts into anonymous Monero, cross-chain transfers, foreign exchanges and mixers. Despite this, it was possible to expose him.
Ahmed pleaded guilty to computer fraud, agreed to confiscate stolen assets worth $12.3 million, and also returned $5 million to the victims. He faces up to 5 years in prison, the verdict will be announced on March 13, 2024.
