Avraham Eisenberg, a cryptocurrency trader, has been arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of market manipulation and fraud in connection with the $110 million Mango Markets decentralized exchange hack.
Avraham Eisenberg admitted his involvement in the theft of funds from Mango Markets’ accounts shortly after the incident in mid-October.
Statement on recent events:
I was involved with a team that operated a highly profitable trading strategy last week.
— Avraham Eisenberg (@avi_eisen) October 15, 2022
According to a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York, USA, the FBI charged Avraham Eisenberg with one count of commodities fraud and one count of commodities manipulation in connection with his exploitation of Mango Markets.
The report stated:
“AVRAHAM EISENBERG, the defendant, participated in a scheme to steal approximately $110 million by artificially manipulating the price of MNGO Perpetuals on Mango Markets the (“Market Manipulation Scheme”).”
Eisenberg successfully exploited Mango Markets by illegally increasing the value of MNGO, the platform’s native token, in relation to USD Coin (USDC). Following that, Eisenberg and his team obtained loans against the inflated collateral, depleting Mango’s cash reserve of nearly $110 million in various cryptocurrencies.
On October 12, a day later, Mango and Eisenberg began negotiations for the return of the illegally obtained assets. On October 15, Mango Markets announced that $67 million in various crypto assets had been returned to their owners.
Mango Markets stated in a tweet:
“$67M in various crypto assets have been returned to the DAO. Let’s meet up on Monday 3 PM UTC on the Mango discord to discuss how we can sort out this mess.”
The FBI concluded that Eisenberg’s actions involved both fraud and market manipulation because he knowingly engaged in a scheme involving the “intentional and artificial manipulation” of the price of perpetual futures on Mango Markets.
The report added:
“AVRAHAM EISENBERG, the defendant, did knowingly and intentionally manipulate and attempt to manipulate the price of a commodity in interstate commerce, and for future delivery on and subject to the rules of a registered entity, and of a swap, to wit, EISENBERG engaged in a scheme involving the intentional and artificial manipulation of the price of perpetual futures contracts on a cryptocurrency exchange called Mango Markets.”
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