New York hacker charged for stealing $9 million from a decentralized exchange
United States law enforcement agents slammed wire fraud and money laundering charges against a former security engineer from New York. He is accused of hacking a decentralized exchange (DEX) and stealing $9 million in July 2022. The development marks the first time prosecutors are bringing charge s against a suspect for exploiting a DEX’s smart contract. Hacker facing charges The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, in a press release, alleged that Shakeeb Ahmed, who previously worked as a senior security engineer for an international technology firm, exploited a vulnerability in an unnamed DEX’s smart contract to steal about $9 million. The affected exchange is a concentrated liquidity market maker that runs on the Solana blockchain and is incorporated overseas. According to an unsealed indictment, Ahmed could insert fake pricing data, causing the smart contract to generate inflated fees worth approximately $9 million , which ...