A U.S. decide has overturned the fraud and market manipulation convictions of Avraham Eisenberg, the crypto dealer accused of draining $110 million from the now-defunct decentralized finance protocol Mango Markets.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian dominated that prosecutors didn’t show Eisenberg made false representations to the platform.
He additionally moved to acquit Eisenberg of wire fraud fees. The investor manipulated the worth of Mango’s native token MNGO with huge trades by greater than 1,000% in 20 minutes earlier than getting the protocol to permit him to borrow and withdraw $110 million in varied cryptocurrencies, backed by the inflated collateral.
Eisenberg’s protection argued that the platform, which operated by way of good contracts, allowed anybody to transact freely and that he merely exploited a vulnerability. The decide agreed, stating that Mango’s permissionless construction meant that there “was insufficient evidence of falsity” from prosecutors concerning Eisenberg’s illustration to Mango Markets.
Eisenberg was arrested in December 2022, and whereas this case collapsed, he’s nonetheless presently serving a four-year sentence handed out after he pleaded responsible to the possession of kid sexual abuse materials.
“From the beginning, we said this case was fatally flawed,” his legal professional Brian Klein of Waymaker LLP stated. “We are very pleased for Avi that the judge granted our motion and dismissed the case.”
