A US jury has found cryptocurrency trader Avraham Eisenberg guilty of fraud charges stemming from his manipulation of the Mango Markets decentralised exchange last October.
The 28-year-old was convicted of commodities fraud, commodities manipulation, and wire fraud in the US Department of Justice’s first criminal case involving crypto market manipulation.
Prosecutors accused Eisenberg of exploiting the Mango platform, operated by Mango DAO, to artificially inflate the value of his futures contracts linked to the MNGO token and USD Coin stablecoin. By simultaneously buying and selling these contracts through two accounts, he managed to drive up their value by 1,300% within 20 minutes.
This enabled Eisenberg to borrow against his inflated holdings and ultimately withdraw $110 million worth of various cryptocurrencies from Mango Markets.
Despite Eisenberg’s claims that his trades were legal and he did not intend to deceive anyone, the Manhattan jury reached a guilty verdict after less than a day of deliberations. His sentencing is scheduled for July 29, where he could face up to 20 years in prison, although a lesser sentence is likely.
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