Ex-OpenSea exec convicted in first-of-its-kind case of insider buying and selling of NFTs • The Register

The former head of product at OpenSea, the biggest on-line market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has been convicted of wire fraud within the US Division of Justice’s first-ever prosecution for insider buying and selling of the digital belongings.

Nathaniel Chastain, 32, was employed at New York startup OpenSea from January to September 2021 on the peak of the NFT craze. Final 12 months, he was accused of secretly organising nameless accounts to snap up prized digital cartoon photos he knew could be featured on OpenSea’s market.

Chastain would purchase the tokens earlier than they had been highlighted by the startup, await them to be listed and for the value to leap resulting from demand, after which promote the digital belongings for greater than he paid for them, pocketing the revenue.

OpenSea’s CEO Devin Finzer launched an outdoor investigation into these actions, which led to Chastain being fired for violating worker insurance policies. The Feds had been alerted, and Chastain was charged with one depend of wire fraud and one depend of cash laundering.

Now, Chastain has been discovered responsible of each prices by a jury, based on court documents [PDF] launched on Thursday.   

“Nathaniel Chastain exploited his advanced knowledge of which NFTs would be featured on OpenSea’s website to make profitable trades for himself,” Damian Williams, the legal professional for the DoJ’s Southern District of New York, declared in an announcement this week. 

“Although this case involved trades in novel crypto assets, there was nothing particularly innovative about his conduct – it was fraud. A jury has found that Chastain is guilty of using inside information for his own personal gain, and he now faces time in federal prison.”

Chastain allegedly reaped simply $57,000 value of earnings from flipping NFTs in Ether, promoting the tokens for as much as 5 instances the value he paid.

Chastain tried to get the indictment dismissed by arguing that with a purpose to cost for insider buying and selling, the federal government must show that cryptoassets are a type of securities or commodities – an unresolved authorized challenge. Judges, nonetheless, disagreed and went forward with a jury trial in a federal courtroom in Manhattan.

“In this case, as alleged, Chastain launched an age-old scheme to commit insider trading by using his knowledge of confidential information to purchase dozens of NFTs in advance of them being featured on OpenSea’s homepage,” the FBI’s assistant director-in-charge Michael J. Driscoll beforehand explained in an announcement. 

“With the emergence of any new investment tool, such as blockchain supported non-fungible tokens, there are those who will exploit vulnerabilities for their own gain. The FBI will continue to aggressively pursue actors who choose to manipulate the market in this way,” he warned.

Every cost carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail. Chastain is anticipated to be sentenced in August and is unlikely to face the utmost penalty. ®

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