The crypto community has reached a unanimous verdict, determining that Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg, the hacker responsible for the Mango Markets decentralized exchange incident, is guilty of fraud and market manipulation. This verdict was delivered by a jury consisting of crypto community members.
On April 18th, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York announced that Eisenberg had been found guilty of wire fraud, commodities fraud, and manipulation. The jury’s decision came after hours of deliberation, following the closing arguments on April 17th.
During the two-week trial, Eisenberg and his legal team argued that he had not committed any offense and had only engaged in legal trading, which resulted in losses of approximately $110 million for Mango Markets. Eisenberg did return around $67 million to the exchange after the hack, but he kept over $40 million following a governance vote by the community.
The judge has the authority to sentence Eisenberg to a maximum of 20 years in prison. However, the exact date of his sentencing is still unknown. Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico in December 2022 and has been in US custody since January 2023.
This verdict against Eisenberg is part of an ongoing crackdown on crypto-related crimes by US authorities. It is likely that enforcement actions, such as civil litigations, will follow from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2023.
These criminal cases are often followed by related proceedings, and in this case, they will resume two weeks after the conclusion of the criminal trial. This signifies the US authorities’ determination to take action against prominent individuals in the crypto space. In March, a federal judge sentenced Bankman-Fried to a minimum of 25 years in prison after his conviction on seven felony charges. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is also awaiting sentencing, scheduled for April 30th, following his plea.
