MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
A Mercer Island man was convicted of four counts of wire fraud after stealing $35 million from a former employer to fund his cryptocurrency business, and ultimately lost all of the funds.
Nevin Shetty, 41, was found guilty after a nine-day jury trial, where jurors deliberated for approximately 10 hours before finding Shetty guilty, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
“This defendant exploited his position of power and trust in an attempt to profit from his crime and then lied to cover it up,” U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stated. “I am proud of the work of our attorneys and support staff, who calmly and carefully helped the jury see through film of lies the defense used to try to justify what was, at its core, theft.”
Shetty was hired as the CFO of a private software company in March 2021, which raised capital through multiple rounds of funding. The company drafted a policy for how the money that was raised would be kept safe as the company continued to grow its business.
The company adopted an investment policy that called for cash to be invested only in money market accounts and other conservative investments. The goal was to preserve capital to be used toward operating and growing the business. The company’s capital was exclusively placed in FDIC-insured treasury and operating bank accounts.
Mercer Island CFO secretly steals $35M in company funds
Shetty aided in drafting the policy and distributed it to the board of directors for approval. However, he secretly moved approximately $35 million of the company’s funds to a cryptocurrency platform he controlled as a side business.
Shetty created the company HighTower Treasury in February 2022, and had no outside customers. In March 2022, Shetty was informed that he would not continue as CFO due to concerns over his performance, but he remained with the company. Shortly after Shetty received the news, he secretly transferred the funds out of the company’s account.
In 2022, between April 1 and 12, Shetty transferred $35,000,100 of his employer’s funds to an account under HighTower Treasury. None of the executives or board members at the company noticed the transfers.
Shetty then placed the funds into cryptocurrency by choosing high-yield decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocols that claimed to generate 20% interest on his investments.
Shetty planned to have HighTower pay Shetty’s company 6% of the interest and keep the remainder of any interest earned for HighTower. As an owner of HighTower, Shetty would keep the profits.
In the first month, approximately $133,000 in profits were earned for Shetty and his HighTower business partner. Despite the early profits, Shetty’s initial $35 million investment had gone to nearly $0 by May 13, 2022, approximately one month after the funds were stolen.
Shetty told two fellow executives of his company what he had done, and was immediately fired.
The company later reported the embezzlement to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which then launched an investigation into Shetty.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kopczynski told the jury in closing arguments, “Why did he do this? Greed, to line his own pockets. That is what explains his lying, sneaking around, and telling half-truths.”
The DOJ noted that wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
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