The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have charged an alleged attacker who stole $116 million from crypto trading platform Mango Markets. The defendant has been arrested and is currently detained in Puerto Rico.
Mango Markets handler arrested and detained
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday that it has charged Avraham Eisenberg with “orchestrating an attack on a crypto-asset trading platform, Mango Markets, by manipulating the MNGO token.” The regulator noted that the crypto token was offered and sold as a security.
The defendant is a 27-year-old US citizen facing “parallel criminal and civil charges” filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), respectively, the SEC added. The CFTC filed a civil enforcement action against Eisenberg on January 9. He has been arrested and detained at MDC Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
The securities regulator explained that as of October 11, 2022, while living in Puerto Rico:
Eisenberg participated in a scheme to steal approximately $116 million in crypto assets from the Mango Markets platform.
He allegedly “used an account he controlled at Mango Markets to sell a large number of perpetual futures for MNGO tokens and used a separate account at Mango Markets to purchase those same perpetual futures,” the regulator said.
In addition, Eisenberg allegedly made a series of large purchases of the under-traded MNGO token to artificially increase the price of the token relative to USD Coin (USDC), the SEC continued, adding that the price of MNGO perpetual futures on Mango Markets subsequently increased. According to the securities regulator:
Eisenberg used the increased value of his MNGO perpetual futures position to borrow and withdraw approximately $116 million worth of various crypto assets from Mango Markets, effectively depleting all available assets from the Mango Markets platform.
The SEC charged Eisenberg with “violating the anti-fraud and market manipulation provisions of the securities laws.” The regulator is seeking “permanent injunctive relief, a conduct-based injunction, restitution with pre-judgment interest, and civil penalties.”
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