Crypto hacker sentenced to 3 years in prison for stealing $12 million

A federal judge on Friday sentenced security engineer Shakib Ahmed to three years in prison and three years of supervised release for his role in the theft of more than $12 million from two decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges (DEX) running on the Solana blockchain.

Ahmed, who was detained last year on charges of wire fraud and money laundering, was accused of embezzling $9 million from DEX, believed to be Crema Finance. In December he admitted guilty of one count of computer fraud.

As part of his sentence, Ahmed will have to pay $12.3 million in restitution and pay $5 million in restitution.

Prosecutors asked for a four-year sentence, acknowledging that the maximum statutory sentence is five years. They said that by pleading guilty and giving up the proceeds of the hacking attacks, Ahmed deserves "deviation slightly lower than predicted", according to document for the verdict filed last week.

Ahmed's defense team argued that no prison sentence should be imposed, citing his admission of responsibility and voluntary disclosure to prosecutors of his involvement in the Nirvana Finance hack.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams noted that Ahmed's guilty plea represents “the first ever smart contract hacking conviction".