ShapeShift sues former lead engineer over alleged $900,000 Bitcoin theft

The cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift has filed a lawsuit against a former lead engineer over damages from the alleged theft of $900,000 in Bitcoin.

According to the the suit, Azamat Mukhiddinov unlawfully transferred 90 BTC from the corporate wallet to an unknown external address using malicious code installed on the exchange’s servers.

The exchange’s management discovered a $900,000 hole in the balance on May 21.

Within three days, ShapeShift employees, with external assistance, identified the theft suspect.

The company said that Mukhiddinov had fully reimbursed the withdrawn funds. Since some of the bitcoins had already been spent, the former employee returned part of the sum via bank transfers and cash.

ShapeShift now asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado to order Mukhiddinov to pay ShapeShift $5,000 to cover investigation costs, for cleaning servers of his code, for payments to third-party service providers, and for losses from service interruptions.

Earlier, a former employee of a Paris-based IT company exacted revenge for his dismissal by stealing 182 bitcoins (about €1.1 million at the time) from former colleagues.

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