The charges stemmed from Eisenberg’s exploitation of Mango Markets, a decentralized finance protocol built on the Solana blockchain.“Avraham Eisenberg executed a manipulative trading scheme on a cryptocurrency exchange, defrauding the exchange and its investors out of $110 million,” stated Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Mango Markets is a decentralized platform managed by Mango DAO that facilitates the lending, borrowing, swapping, and leveraged trading of cryptocurrencies.Eisenberg reportedly used two accounts to execute simultaneous buy and sell orders for futures contracts tied to the value of Mango’s native token, MNGO, and the stablecoin USD Coin. These manipulative trades inflated the value of his contracts by 1,300% in just 20 minutes.
Despite Eisenberg’s claims that his trades were lawful and transparent, the jury’s deliberations concluded in less than a day. Expressing disappointment, Eisenberg’s attorney, Brian Klein, announced plans to pursue post-trial motions to advocate for his client. Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch commented on the case: “If you engage in fraudulent activity, whether that be in the cryptocurrency space or through other forms of market manipulation, you will be held accountable for your ill-gotten gains.”