The First Insider Trading Case Involving Cryptocurrency (reuters.com) 13
The brother of a former Coinbase product manager was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty in what U.S. prosecutors have called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency. Reuters reports: Nikhil Wahi admitted to making trades based on confidential information from Coinbase, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, when he pleaded guilty in September to a wire fraud conspiracy charge. Prosecutors said Ishan Wahi, the former product manager, shared the information with his brother and their friend Sameer Ramani about new digital assets that Coinbase was planning to let users trade. Ishan Wahi has pleaded not guilty, and Ramani is at large.
Prosecutors said Wahi made nearly $900,000 of profit by illegally trading ahead of 40 different Coinbase announcements. They recommended a 10- to 16-month sentence. At a sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said his crime was "not an isolated error in judgment." "Today's sentence makes clear that the cryptocurrency markets are not lawless," Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement. Further reading: Coinbase To Cut 20% Jobs, Abandon 'Several' Projects To Weather Downturns in Crypto Market
Prosecutors said Wahi made nearly $900,000 of profit by illegally trading ahead of 40 different Coinbase announcements. They recommended a 10- to 16-month sentence. At a sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said his crime was "not an isolated error in judgment." "Today's sentence makes clear that the cryptocurrency markets are not lawless," Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, said in a statement. Further reading: Coinbase To Cut 20% Jobs, Abandon 'Several' Projects To Weather Downturns in Crypto Market
The entire ecosystem is built (Score:5, Insightful)
Ten months? (Score:1)
Where I live in Texas, someone possessing a lid of pot can get ten months, or someone picked up for trespassing because they walked across a set of train tracks.
If this were a blue collar crime, this would be a life without parole sentence. Ten months for a million dollars, and not even a felony charge? I know a lot of people who would jump on that, especially with crypto because it is so simple to launder. "Gee, I had someone dump a million bucks into my Monero wallet as an anonymous donation. I'll pay
in Soviet Russia insider trades YOU! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Ten months for a million dollars, and not even a felony charge?
Where do I sign up for that?
how does this make sense? (Score:2)
But coinbase also has to buy the coin in advance so it has the reserves necessary to list the coin for trading. Am i the only one who thinks insider trading cannot be mitigated, and how the exchange itself has to do it to list the crypto?
"wire fraud conspiracy charge" (Score:2)
The "first" only now?!?!? (Score:2)
Not the word association crypto wants (Score:2)
"I say 'cryptocurrency', and you say ...?"
"Criminal activity?"
"Oh my."