Former Startup CFO Sentenced for $35M Crypto Fraud Scheme

[nihalsari]

A federal judge in Seattle has sentenced former startup CFO Nevin Shetty to two years in prison after he was convicted of wire fraud tied to unauthorized cryptocurrency investments. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Shetty secretly transferred about $35 million in company funds in 2022 to a crypto platform he controlled called HighTower Treasury without the knowledge of the company’s executives or board.

Prosecutors said the funds were invested in high-yield DeFi lending protocols promising returns of 20% or more. While the investments briefly generated about $133,000 in the first month, the collapse of the Terra ecosystem triggered a market crash that wiped out nearly all the funds by May 2022. Shetty later admitted what he had done to colleagues and was immediately fired, later being convicted on four counts of wire fraud.

[ed]

this story is basically:
step 1: secretly move $35M
step 2: DeFi
step 3: Terra collapse
step 4: prison