Former Coinbase manager and two others charged in crypto insider trading scheme

Former Coinbase manager and two others charged in crypto insider trading scheme


The logo for Coinbase Global Inc, the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, is displayed on the Nasdaq MarketSite jumbotron and others at Times Square in New York, U.S., April 14, 2021.

Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Three people have been charged in the first-ever crypto insider trading tipping scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams charged Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase, his brother, Nikhil Wahi, and a friend, Sameer Ramani, with wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in cryptocurrency assets. The charges allege the individuals planned to use confidential Coinbase information about which crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on Coinbase’s exchanges. 

The release also says that Ishan Wahi attempted to flee to India ahead of a scheduled interview by Coinbase’s security department, but was prevented by law enforcement from leaving.

“Today’s charges are a further reminder that Web3 is not a law-free zone,” Williams said in the release. “Our message with these charges is clear: fraud is fraud is fraud, whether it occurs on the blockchain or on Wall Street.  And the Southern District of New York will continue to be relentless in bringing fraudsters to justice, wherever we may find them.”

Ishan Wahi and Nikhil Wahi were arrested on Thursday morning in Seattle, and Ramani remains at large.

Correction: Damian Williams is U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. An earlier version misspelled his first name.



Source

Public companies bought more bitcoin than ETFs did for the third quarter in a row
Technology

Public companies bought more bitcoin than ETFs did for the third quarter in a row

Ozan Kose | Afp | Getty Images Corporate treasuries have surpassed ETFs in bitcoin buying for a third consecutive quarter as more companies try to benefit from the MicroStrategy playbook in a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment. Public companies acquired about 131,000 coins in the second quarter, growing their bitcoin balance 18%, according to data provider […]

Read More
AeroVironment stock drops 7% on offering plan to pay off debt
Technology

AeroVironment stock drops 7% on offering plan to pay off debt

An image of a Quantix drone made by AeroVironment. David Mcnew | Getty Images News | Getty Images AeroVironment shares fell 7% Tuesday after the defense contractor said it plans to offer $750 million in common stock and $600 million in convertible senior notes due in 2030 to repay debt. The drone maker said it […]

Read More
Web giant Cloudflare to block AI bots from scraping content by default
Technology

Web giant Cloudflare to block AI bots from scraping content by default

Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images Internet firm Cloudflare will start blocking artificial intelligence crawlers from accessing content without website owners’ permission or compensation by default, in a move that could significantly impact AI developers’ ability to train their models. Starting Tuesday, every new web domain that signs up to Cloudflare will be asked […]

Read More