The brother of a former Coinbase executive has been sentenced to prison for insider trading in cryptocurrency. The person was charged with committing the crime along with two other individuals in July 2022.
The US Department of Justice has released a statement regarding the conviction of an individual in a case of crypto trading insider trading. The man identified as Nikhil Wahi was sentenced to 10 months in prison. And this is the first conviction related to insider trading crypto.
Wahi traded cryptocurrencies based on the information he received from his brother – Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager. According to the press release, Wahi had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Additionally, U.S. Attorney General Damian Williams noted:
“Insider trading gives the impression that everything is manipulated and that only people with secret advantages can make real money. Today’s sentence makes it clear that the cryptocurrency markets are not lawless. There are real consequences for illegal insider trading.”
Coinbase insider trading detected on Twitter
Interestingly, the case of insider trading was first discovered by a Twitter user named Cobie. This caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Coby had detected an Ethereum address that purchased “hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tokens” to be listed on Coinbase. In addition, the purchase had taken place exactly 24 hours prior to the official announcement.
Once this came to light, Coinbase launched an official investigation and held a meeting with its team. Post this, Ishan Wahi tried to flee the country and tipped off his brother and friend about the investigation. However, law enforcement stopped the attempt before he could board the plane.
The investigation revealed that Ishan Wahi had given information about the cryptocurrencies that would be listed on Coinbase to his brother and friend Sameer Ramani. And with this advantage, the three suspects made a profit of $1.5 million by trading at least 25 tokens. In addition, the scheme lasted from at least June 2021 to April 2022. The three were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit cryptocurrency insider trading.
This post Coinbase: Man Sentenced to Jail for First Crypto Insider Trading
was published first on https://ambcrypto.com/coinbase-man-sentenced-to-prison-over-first-crypto-insider-trading-case/
