Nevin Shetty was convicted of wire fraud for secretly moving $35 million in funds from a Seattle startup to his own crypto platform in 2022 to employ for DeFi investments.
A Seattle judge has sentenced the former chief financial officer of a local startup to two years in prison following his conviction for wire fraud related to a cryptocurrency business.
In a Thursday notice, the US Justice Department said Nevin Shetty would serve two years in prison after he “secretly moved approximately $35 million in company funds to a cryptocurrency platform he controlled as a side business.” He moved the funds to the HighTower Treasury platform in 2022 before a crypto market downturn, resulting in the disclosure of the transfer.
According to the DOJ, Shetty was able to transfer the funds without any executives or board members at the Seattle startup knowing about it, then using the money to invest in “high-yield DeFi lending protocols that promised to generate returns of 20% or more.” He initially earned $133,000 in the first month before the collapse of the Terra ecosystem contributed to a significant market downturn.
“[T]Cryptocurrency investments that Shetty made with the stolen funds soon began to decline, and by May 13, 2022, the investment was worth almost zero,” the Justice Department said. “After the $35 million essentially disappeared, Shetty told two of his associates what he had done. He was immediately fired.”
Shetty was charged with wire fraud in May 2023 and found guilty on four counts in November 2025 after a nine-day jury trial. After serving his two-year sentence, he was ordered to repay the stolen funds and spend three years on supervised release.
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The former CEO of FTX is still awaiting an appeal
Shetty’s 2022 case occurred months before the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which later led to the arrest and conviction of its former CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried. SBF was sentenced in 2024 to 25 years in prison, but appealed against the verdict. As of Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had not announced any decision since it heard arguments in November.
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