US Authorities Accuse Former Security Engineer of Siphoning $9 Million From Defi Platform

Authorities successful the United States precocious revealed that instrumentality enforcement has arrested Shakeeb Ahmed for “wire fraud and wealth laundering successful transportation with his onslaught connected a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange.” The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York suggested that the wealth laundering charges against the information technologist stem from his alleged attempts to obfuscate the question of the stolen funds.

Money Laundering Charges

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced connected July 11 that Shakeeb Ahmed, a erstwhile elder information technologist astatine a tech firm, had been arrested for “wire fraud and wealth laundering successful transportation with his onslaught connected a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange.” According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, Ahmed stole astir $9 cardinal successful cryptocurrency from the decentralized crypto exchange.

As explained successful the DOJ’s statement, the erstwhile information engineer’s apprehension followed the unsealing of an indictment charging Ahmed for his relation successful the cyber theft. Meanwhile, the U.S. lawyer besides revealed that the wealth laundering charges against the information technologist stem from his alleged attempts to obfuscate the question of the stolen funds.

“We besides allege that helium past laundered the stolen funds done a bid of analyzable transfers connected the blockchain wherever helium swapped cryptocurrencies, hopped crossed antithetic crypto blockchains, and utilized overseas crypto exchanges. But nary of those actions covered the defendant’s tracks oregon fooled instrumentality enforcement, and they surely didn’t halt my Office oregon our instrumentality enforcement partners from pursuing the money,” Williams said.

DOJ and IRS Tracking Fraudsters Everywhere

For his part, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) peculiar cause successful charge, Chad Plantz, highlighted the relation played by Ahmed’s indictment and apprehension successful preserving “consumer assurance successful our fiscal system.” Tyler Hatcher, a peculiar cause astatine the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), said his enactment on with the DOJ volition proceed to beryllium astatine the “forefront of cyber investigations and volition way these fraudsters anyplace they effort to fell and clasp them accountable.”

According to the DOJ, Ahmed is said to person executed the onslaught by “exploiting a vulnerability successful 1 of the Crypto Exchange’s astute contracts.” Exploiting the vulnerability allegedly allowed the erstwhile information technologist to make “approximately $9 cardinal worthy of inflated fees that Ahmed did not legitimately earn.”

Shortly aft siphoning the millions of dollars, Ahmed is alleged to person agreed to instrumentality astir of the stolen funds if the crypto speech refrained from referring the substance to instrumentality enforcement. Besides utilizing the privateness coin Monero to fell his tracks, the 34-year-old technologist is said to person resorted to utilizing overseas crypto exchanges.

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