Key Highlights
- Nevin Shetty, former CFO of Fabric, was sentenced to two years in prison for stealing $35 million and investing it in his own crypto project.
- His actions caused 60 employees to be laid off and nearly put the company out of business.
- The court says he must repay the $35 million and is barred from holding executive roles without probation approval.
Nevin Shetty, the former chief financial officer of tech company Fabric, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing $35 million from his employer and putting it into his own cryptocurrency project.
The sentencing happened on March 5th, in Seattle’s U.S. District Court after Shetty was found guilty on four counts of wire fraud on November 7, 2025.
According to prosecutors, he secretly moved company money to a startup he controlled, called HighTower Treasury, in 2022, trying to make huge profits for himself. The company later had to lay off 60 employees because of the loss.
Judge Tana Lin told Shetty at the hearing, “The loss had significant and severe effects on the company. Your actions threw into complete turmoil the lives of those 60 people… You almost put the company out of business… You were playing with money that wasn’t yours.” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd added, “Mr. Shetty brazenly schemed to line his own pockets with his employer’s money… His lies did not fool the jury.”
Shetty’s secret crypto scheme
Shetty had been hired as CFO of Fabric, a private software company, in March 2021. He helped draft the company’s investment policy, which required funds to be kept in safe accounts.
Despite this, he secretly created HighTower Treasury in early 2022 and moved $35,000,100 from Fabric’s account using wire transfers in April 2022. Shetty invested the money in high-yield DeFi lending protocols promising returns over 20 percent. In the first month, he earned roughly $133,000 for himself and a business partner.
By May 2022, the investments had collapsed, leaving nearly all of the $35 million lost. Shetty then told two executives what he had done and was immediately fired. The Department of Justice charged him in May 2023, and jurors convicted him after a nine-day trial.
Prosecutors had requested a nine-year prison sentence, calling it a “calculated scheme motivated by greed” that caused serious financial harm. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Kopczynski said, “This was all about greed. He never did this for any reason other than to line his own pockets.”
Shetty was ordered to pay $35,000,100 and will serve three years of supervised release after prison. Judge Lin also barred him from holding any officer or director role in a company without prior approval from his probation officer.
Fabric’s CEO Mike Micucci said in a statement, “Today’s sentencing brings final resolution to a difficult chapter in our company’s history. Our focus remains firmly on the future: serving our customers, supporting our employees, and advancing our mission.”
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