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ShapeShift Accuses Former Employee of Stealing $900K in Bitcoin

The exchange wants damages from Azamat Mukhiddinov, its now-fired senior engineer.

By Danny Nelson
AccessTimeIconAug 27, 2020 at 4:25 p.m. UTC
Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 9:49 a.m. UTC
(CoinDesk archives)

(CoinDesk archives)

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Crypto exchange ShapeShift has sued its former senior engineer in Colorado Federal District Court for damages caused by his alleged theft of $900,000 in bitcoin.

  • As detailed in the exchange's Wednesday demand for jury trail, Azamat Mukhiddinov allegedly siphoned 90 bitcoin away from his employer via "malicious code and programs" he is accused of having installed on its servers.
  • Executives said they discovered the $900,000 hole in the company's balance sheet on May 21 and traced it to Mukhiddinov within days.
  • Mukhiddinov has already made the company whole, the company said. He quickly paid it back via wire transfers, cash-packed "duffel bag" handoffs and bitcoin payments, according to the lawsuit.
  • ShapeShift now wants Mukhiddinov to pay currently unspecified damages for the time and effort employees spent cleaning the exchange's servers of his bitcoin-stealing code.

See also: ShapeShift Lost $230k in String of Thefts, Report Finds

CORRECTION (August 27, 19:15 UTC): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that ShapeShift is seeking $5,000 in damages. ShapeShift has not yet specified the amount that it seeks.

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