After pleading guilty earlier this year, former Coinbase Product Manager Ishan Wahi was sentenced to 2 years in prison in a landmark case for insider trading in cryptocurrencies.
The sentence exceeded the 10-month jail sentence of Ishan’s brother – Nikhil Wahi – for which he was an accomplice for the crime.
Two Years for Crypto Insider Trading
According to the report from ReutersIshan Wahi was sentenced by US District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan Federal court on Tuesday.
The sentence follows a guilty plea from Wahi in February to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Preska stated that his scheme was a “gross abuse” of trust in Coinbase – the largest cryptocurrency exchange in America that was the subject of several customer lawsuits and was launched by the government last year.
Wahi was arrested and charged by the Department of Justice in July for tipping off his brother – along with his friend Sameer Ramani – with information about Coinbase’s yet-to-be announced coin listings. public. The analysis shows that the lists of major crypto exchanges often have a dramatic effect of the asset price
The group’s scheme earned them nearly $1.5 million in total in 55 different token announcements between June 2021 and April 2022, according to prosecutors.
Assistant US Attorney Noah Solowiejczyk said during the hearing that ten months of consistent tips showed that Wahi’s actions “were not a one-off mistake.” On the other hand, Judge Preska added that Wahi and the co-accused’s attempts to cover up their actions proved that they knew what they were doing was wrong.
A “Big Mistake”
“I made a big mistake that will follow me for the rest of my life,” Wahi said. Her comment was echoed by her brother Nikhil in January, who said her mistake was “something I’ll have to live with forever,” afterwards. plead guilty in his individual case.
Ishan Wahi in the beginning pleaded not guilty on wire fraud charges shortly after they were announced, but eventually followed his brother’s lead with a guilty plea in February.
Wahi requested a sentence that was less than his brother’s in court papers, citing other insider trading cases in which violators received less prison time. On the other hand, the prosecutors called for Wahi to receive 3 years in prison to set an example to other crypto exchange insiders who abuse their privileged information.
OpenSea’s Head of Product was similarly accused of NFT Insider Trading in June – but the former employee has since filed to drop the charges.
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