May 31, 2023 12:25
A former
Product Manager at Coinbase, Isah Wahi and his brother Nikhil Wahi, have settled
charges of insider dealing brought against them by the US securities regulator.
They both agreed to give up illegal profit gained from their scheme and also
pay prejudgment interest which covers for losses on the amount since the case
started.
Coinbase Ex-Manager, Brother to Forfeit $900k
The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a statement said Shan and Nikhil
have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and have been sentenced
to 24 months and 10 months in imprisonment, respectively, in a criminal case. In addition, the
regulator noted that while the former is to forfeit 10.97 ETH and 9,400 USDT
(worth about $20K and $9.4K at current market prices), the latter is to give up
$892,500. The figures amounts to over $900,00.
Furthermore,
the securities watchdog said the brothers agreed to be permanently enjoined
from violating the US securities law. SEC had first charged the brothers and a
friend Sameer Ramani to court in July last year, claiming that they generated
over $1.1 million from the insider trading scheme which involved at least "nine crypto asset securities".
Finance
Magnates reported that Ishan earlier this month was sentenced to two years
imprisonment in a lawsuit initiated by US prosecutors. The Department of Justice (DOJ) in a statement said Ishan in February pleaded to two counts of wire fraud.
If the forfeiture from the criminal case is court approved, SEC said it will not seek penalties in the civil case.
“As is
often the case when a criminal court has already ordered defendants to forfeit
their ill-gotten gains, the disgorgement and prejudgment interest in the SEC’s
case would be deemed satisfied by the orders of forfeiture of the Wahi
brothers’ assets in the criminal action, if approved by the court, and the SEC
determined not to seek civil penalties in light of the Wahi brothers’ prison
sentences,” SEC explained in the new statement.
The Insider
Dealing Case
According
to the SEC, between June 2021 and April 2020, Ishan abused this role as a
Product Manager at Coinbase by sharing confidential information about
Coinbase’s upcoming listing with his brother and a friend in breach of the crypto exchange’s policy. The brother and friend traded with the
information and bought at least 25 cryptocurrencies ahead of the listing only
to dump them shortly after they were listed in order to cash out with profits.
In a previous statement, DOJ said Ishan tried to flee to India after Coinbase initiated investigation on the case. However, he was arrested in May last year
while attempting to do so.
“The
federal securities laws do not exempt crypto asset securities from the
prohibition against insider trading, nor does the SEC,” noted Gurbir S. Grewal,
Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, in the SEC statement.
Huobi HK launches; US approves Eurex BTC Futures; read today's nuggets.
This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.
World Crypto Global
