| Hacker
Shakeeb Ahmed
Pled Guilty to
5 Year Max now
Gets 3 Years
For Nirvana
DeFi Exploit
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 12 – Shakeeb
Ahmed was
arrested at 6
am on July 11
and appeared
in court at 3
pm on crypto
fraud charges.
Indictment on
Patreon here.
Inner
City Press was
there, in the
Magistrates
Court of the
U.S. District
Court for the
Southern
District of
New York, when
Ahmed was
brought in by
U.S. Marshals,
wearing shorts
and a t-short
emblazoned "I
[two-screens]
CODE." Thread
here.
The SDNY
prosecutors
agreed to
release Ahmed
on bond, only
$100,000 of it
secured by
cash, to live
in his luxury
apartment on
57th Street.
This stands in
contrast to
the detention
of Avi
Eisenberg, and
Miles
Guo.
On
July 14,
District Judge
Victor Marrero
set the next
conference for
August 11.
Inner
City Press
went to the
nearly empty
courtroom;
threadette:
Shakeeb
Ahmed has 3
lawyers and is
wearing a
suit, not "I
CODE" T-shirt
he wore at
arraignment.
All
rise!
Judge
Marrero: Tell
me about
discovery...
AUSA:
We turned over
Google
subpoena
returns. We
seized over 20
devices, we
are imaging
them and
Ahmed's laptop
from his
former
employer.
Defense:
We got 90
gigabytes this
morning. We'd
like until
October.
AUSA:
Oct 20.
Judge
Marrero: 2 pm.
Adjourned.
The
prosecutors
summarize: "In
July 2022,
AHMED carried
out an attack
on the Crypto
Exchange by
exploiting a
vulnerability
in one of the
Crypto
Exchange’s
smart
contracts and
inserting fake
pricing data
to
fraudulently
cause that
smart contract
to generate
approximately
$9 million
dollars’ worth
of inflated
fees...
The Crypto
Exchange was
incorporated
overseas and
operates on
the Solana
blockchain...
AHMED
laundered the
millions in
fees that he
stole from the
Crypto
Exchange to
conceal their
source and
ownership,
including
through (i)
conducting
token-swap
transactions,
(ii)
“bridging”
fraud proceeds
from the
Solana
blockchain
over to the
Ethereum
blockchain,
(iii)
exchanging
fraud proceeds
into Monero."
On
December 14,
Shakeeb Ahmed
pled guilty in
SDNY
Magistrates
Court. Inner
City Press was
the only media
there; thread
Plea
agreement on
Patreon here.
On
March 29,
2024, Shakeeb
Ahmed's
counsel wrote
in asking in
advance to
seal in full a
letter he
intends to
file from
Ahmed's
therapist,
presumably for
a lower
sentence.
On
April 1, the
US asked for a
"slightly
below
Guidelines
sentence" of
48 months. A
sealed
document was
placed in the
vault.
On
April 12,
Inner City
Press went to
the
sentencing,
thread:
Defense:
Shakeeb lives
in a 500 sq ft
apartment in
Hell's
Kitchen. He
had a great
job at Amazon.
Now he works
at a mental
health care
start-up. His
serious
girlfriend Zoe
and 2 siblings
are here. His
family paid my
firm's legal
expenses.
Defense
lawyer: In my
26 years in
the SDNY, I
have never
appeared
before Your
Honor. But I
see that since
Booker, you
have never
given jail
time to a
defendant who
paid full
restitution
before
sentencing
[Note:
this defense
counsel was
part of the
team of
lawyers for
Nikola's
Trevor
Milton... For
Shakeeb Ahmed
Probation
recommends 2
years in
prison; US
Attorney's
Office says 4
years. Ahmed
wants no jail
time
Shakeeb
Ahmed: I lost
my way. I
apologize to
the users of
Nirvana
Finance.
(Sobs) I am
raised in a
harsh and
unforgiving
household. I
was drawn to
technology. I
got lost.
During the
pandemic I
turned to
crypto.
Shakeeb
Ahmed: I
witnessed
hacks, I found
a way to
exploit an
exchange's
smart
contracts. I
went into
therapy.
Judge
Marrero: I
sentence you
to 36 months
in prison.
It
will start
after Eid, in
late June; the
request is for
Morgantown WV
or Cumberland
Satellite Camp
in Maryland...
More
on X for
Subscribers here
and
Substack here
The
case is US v.
Ahmed,
23-cr-340
(Marrero)
***
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