The United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has joined other federal agencies in charging Avraham Eisenberg – a crypto trader. The crypto trader has come under the scrutiny of the regulators for his activity on Mango Markets, a crypto trading platform. In a blog post released today, the securities commission has accused Eisenberg of “orchestrating an attack” on the trading platform by manipulating the platform’s native token – MNGO token.
The SEC has accused him of stealing nearly $116 million worth of cryptocurrencies by manipulating the price of MNGO tokens on the futures market. It also stated that the trader’s actions resulted in all the assets being drained from Mango Markets, rendering it insolvent. In addition, the commission is investigating whether Eisenberg violated other securities laws. The crypto trader is currently detained in Puerto Rico and would be taken to the Southern District of New York soon. The press release states,
“used an account that he controlled on Mango Markets to sell a large amount of perpetual futures for MNGO tokens and used a separate account on Mango Markets to purchase those same perpetual futures (…) engaged in a series of large purchases of the thinly traded MNGO token for the purpose of artificially raising the price of MNGO token”
Notably, the commission is not the first agency to take an action against the crypto trader. The Department of Justice and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have pressed civil and criminal charges against Eisenberg. The CFTC has charged him with commodities fraud and commodities manipulation.
The story is still developing.