U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced on Dec. 14 that Shakeeb Ahmed, a man accused of hacking two decentralized crypto exchanges, had pleaded guilty to the charge of computer fraud. Ahmed is said to have attempted to cover his tracks by using overseas crypto exchanges and swapping the stolen assets with the privacy coin monero.

Hacker Demands Larger ‘Bounty’

Shakeeb Ahmed, the man publicly charged with the hack of an unnamed decentralized crypto exchange, recently pleaded guilty to computer fraud and has agreed to forfeit over $12.3 million. Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has said that Ahmed also admitted to being the individual behind the July 2022 hacking of the decentralized finance (defi) protocol Nirvana Finance.

In a statement released on Dec. 14, 2023, Williams said Ahmed, a senior security engineer, has agreed to return the stolen crypto to his victims. Chronicling Ahmed’s July 2-3 attack on the decentralized platform, the U.S. Attorney said the security engineer exploited a vulnerability in one of the platform’s smart contracts. This step enabled Ahmed to insert fake pricing data and this ultimately helped to generate approximately $9 million worth of inflated fees.

According to the statement, Ahmed later reached out to the platform and an agreement was reached in which he would return all but $1.5 million worth of digital assets. The agreement was, however, conditioned on the matter not being referred to law enforcement.

On July 28, Ahmed also perpetrated an attack on Nirvana Finance which saw him earn a profit of $3.6 million. To resolve the matter, Nirvana Finance offered Ahmed a reward or “bug bounty” of $600,000 if he returned the stolen assets. However, according to the statement, Ahmed demanded $1.4 million instead.

Crypto Mixers Not Effective Anymore

After the attacks, Ahmed attempted to cover his tracks by using overseas crypto exchanges and swapping the stolen assets with the privacy coin monero. However, Williams is quoted in the statement suggesting that such efforts had been proven to be ineffective.

“In total, Ahmed used his technical know-how to steal over $12 million and tried to cover his tracks by swapping stolen crypto for monero, using cryptocurrency mixers, hopping across blockchains, and utilizing overseas crypto exchanges. Today’s conviction shows that no matter how sophisticated the methods used, fraud is fraud, and we will swiftly catch and convict you,” Williams said.

In addition to attempting to cover his tracks, Ahmed’s web search history just days after the hack suggested that he was planning to flee the United States. Meanwhile, according to the statement, Ahmed is set to be sentenced by U.S. Judge Victor Marrero on March 13, 2024.

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