A resident of Mercer Island, Washington, has been charged with fraud and misuse of $35 million by his employer, which the employee spent on loss-making investments in cryptocurrencies.</div
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington has charged Nevin Shetty, 39, with wire fraud.
According to the indictment, in March 2021, the man assumed the position of CFO of a private company that raised capital.
The company has followed a conservative investment policy, investing only in fixed-income instruments in U.S. dollars.
In March 2022, Shetty was warned by his employer that he would no longer be able to continue working for the company as CFO.
Upon learning of this, the subordinate secretly transferred $35 million to the cryptocurrency platform HighTower Treasury, which he founded in February 2022 as an additional business.
The HighTower platform was supposed to pay 6% per annum to the company, keeping profits beyond that amount.
However, as the owner of HighTower, Shetty kept the profits and concealed them from the board of directors and other employees of the investment company where he worked.
By May 13, 2022 that $35 million investment had come to naught because of the decline in the cryptocurrency market;
Nevin Shetty to stand trial in Seattle District Court on May 25, 2023. If convicted, the man faces up to 20 years in prison.
In April, the U.S. Justice Department accused a former Deutsche Bank employee of defrauding investors interested in cryptocurrencies and embezzling their funds.