Former product manager at Coinbase Global Ishan Wahi has admitted to engaging in a conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in conjunction with an insider trading scam.
He became the first person to admit guilt in an insider trading case involving the cryptocurrency market when he acknowledged disclosing sensitive information regarding Coinbase's upcoming token listings for personal benefit.
Wahi also acknowledged disclosing top-secret details about Coinbase's upcoming token listings to third parties for private gain. Wahi is now the first insider in an insider trading case involving the bitcoin industry to accept guilt.
Insider trading is a significant criminal offense, according to Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. This is true whether it occurs in the equities market or the cryptocurrency market. The agency will prosecute this offense in whatever way possible using its extensive expertise investigating insider trading cases.
Wahi was a product manager at Coinbase and was fully aware of the firm's intentions to list additional cryptocurrency assets.
He gave Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani access to this secret information, and they used it to make lucrative trades in response to Coinbase's press releases. A well-known Twitter account in the crypto world spotted and reported the trading activity, which led Coinbase to look into it.
Before he was scheduled to be interrogated by Coinbase, Wahi booked a one-way travel to India, but was prevented from leaving the country by law authorities.
The Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force of the Office handled the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Noah Solowiejczyk and Nicolas Roos oversaw the prosecution.
The United States will soon sentence Wahi. District Judge Loretta A. Preska on May 10, 2023, and each offense carries a potential 20-year jail term.
The National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team of the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which brought separate civil lawsuits against Wahi, were both helpful, the U.S. Attorney said. He also applauded the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation efforts.
