Ex-OpenSea manager convicted in NFT insider trading case
Reuters
Published May 03, 2023 04:43PM ET
Updated May 03, 2023 06:28PM ET
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former product manager at non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea was convicted on Wednesday of fraud and money laundering for using inside knowledge of which assets would be featured on its home page to trade NFTs.
Nathaniel Chastain was accused of buying NFTs he had decided to feature on the OpenSea website and selling them shortly afterward to make more than $50,000 in illegal profit, in what federal prosecutors in Manhattan described as the first insider trading case involving digital assets.
"Although this case involved trades in novel crypto assets, there was nothing particularly innovative about his conduct - it was fraud," Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement.
The charges against Chastain, announced last June, were the first in a series of high-profile cases related to digital assets launched by Williams' office last year.
The case could have broader implications for assets that do not fit in to existing regulations preventing investment advisers, brokers and others from trading on material nonpublic information, legal experts have said.
Chastain had pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, David Miller, said following the verdict that the legal team would "evaluate our options."
"We respect the jury process. We respectfully disagree with their decision," Miller told reporters.
Chastain's lawyers argued that OpenSea, the world's largest NFT marketplace, did not treat knowledge of what NFTs would be featured on its home page as confidential information when Chastain worked at the company.
"You can't hold Nate to a standard that didn't exist," his lawyer Daniel Filor told jurors in his closing argument on Monday. "Nobody told Nate that he couldn't use or share that information."
Prosecutor Allison Nichols said Chastain used anonymous OpenSea accounts to make the illegal trades, showing he knew that what he was doing was wrong.
"He hid what he was doing," Nichols told the jury in her rebuttal argument. "He knew that he had violated OpenSea's confidentiality agreement."
U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, who presided over the trial, set Chastain's sentencing date for Aug. 22.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.