Trader to Stand Trial for $100M Crypto Scam: Avraham Eisenberg to Face Justice in December

• Avraham Eisenberg, a trader accused of manipulating the decentralized exchange Mango Markets in a massive multi-million dollar scam, is slated to stand trial on Dec. 4 in New York.
• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have both brought charges against him for market manipulation and violating the Commodity Exchange Act.
• Eisenberg allegedly sought to artificially inflate the value of his swap contract holdings on Mango Markets by creating two anonymous accounts funded with $5 million each.

Mango Markets Crypto Scam

Avraham Eisenberg, a trader accused of manipulating the decentralized exchange Mango Markets in a massive multi-million dollar scam, is slated to stand trial on Dec. 4 in New York. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have both brought charges against him for market manipulation and violating the Commodity Exchange Act.

Scheme Unfolds

The CFTC’s filing states that Eisenberg’s scheme sought to artificially inflate the value of his swap contract holdings on Mango Markets by creating two anonymous accounts funded with $5 million each. He then employed one account to create a long position valued at $19 million, which included more than 400 million swaps of MNGO/USDC at roughly $0.04 each. He also created an additional order for 100 million MNGO tokens worth around $4 million from another account he controlled but did not disclose this information publicly before executing it successfully.

Financial Sanctions

The CFTC has requested financial sanctions, prohibition on engaging in buying or selling virtual asset commodities, as well as reimbursement of funds from Eisenberg for his alleged misconducts related to this scheme.

Arrest

On December 27th 2022, US Department of Justice arrested Eisenberg for his involvement in this scam which he admitted via Twitter describing it as „a highly profitable trading strategy“.

Conclusion

Eisenberg will face criminal trial in New York on December 4th 2023 over these fraud charges related to Mango Market crypto scam where he allegedly manipulated its price oracle resulting in loss of approximately $110 million.