A former product manager at the OpenSea NFT marketplace was found guilty of fraud and money laundering in connection with insider trading on May 3. Nathaniel Chastain allegedly used insider information about the assets that would appear on OpenSea’s home page to make purchase decisions. According to the report, the accused purchased non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and then sold them soon. Which reportedly earned him more than $50,000 in illicit profit. The federal prosecutors in Manhattan described the case as the first insider trading case involving digital assets. Prosecutor Thomas Burnett was quoted saying, “He abused his status at OpenSea to line his own pockets, and he lied to cover his tracks.” According to prosecutor Allison Nichols, Chastain used anonymous OpenSea accounts to conduct the illicit trades. He argued that his actions demonstrated that Chastain was aware of the wrongness of what he was doing. According to a spokeswoman for OpenSea, the business launched an investigation after becoming aware of Chastain’s alleged behavior and “ultimately asked him to leave.”
Full report : First Insider Trading Case Involving Digital Assets Comes to Light as Ex-OpenSea Manager Found Guilty.
