The brother of a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc. was found guilty of his position in a conspiracy to trade on inside knowledge about when the cryptocurrency exchange was going to approve new cryptocurrencies and open them for public trading. In what U.S. prosecutors have hailed as the first case of insider trading involving cryptocurrency, Nikhil Wahi, the perpetrator of the illicit trading plan, was handed a sentence of 10 months in prison for his participation in the scheme.
Insider Trading At Coinbase
Nikhil Wahi stated in September of the previous year that he had executed trades based on information that was deemed exclusive by the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase. Ishan Wahi, the erstwhile product manager at Coinbase, is accused by federal authorities in Manhattan of disclosing confidential information to his brother and their mutual acquaintance Sameer Ramani on new crypto tokens that Coinbase intended to make available for users to trade.
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According to the prosecutors, Wahi was able to accumulate close to $900,000 by investing in 40 different digital assets with the information he received from his brother. The final verdict was handed down by the U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska.
Nikhil accepted his crime and was quoted as saying:
I made a huge mistake, a terrible mistake. It’s something that I will have to live with forever.
Nikhil Wahi To Repay All Profits
In addition to the term of imprisonment, Wahi was also ordered by Preska to give up the $892,525 in profits he had generated from the insider-trading. Additionally, he was placed on probation for a period of two years.
The prosecution requested that Wahi be given a prison sentence of up to sixteen months if he was found guilty. However, the defense attorney Priya Chaudhry explained to the judge that Wahi was not driven by greed but rather by the intention to repay his Indian parents for paying for his college education in the United States and to assist them in having a more secure retirement.
Wahi, who was hoping to avoid doing any jail time, will instead be required to return to India once he has finished serving his term.
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