According to Reuters, Nate Chastain, the former product director of the well-known NFT trading platform OpenSea, was convicted of money laundering and wire fraud in New York federal court on Wednesday.
Nate Chastain was forced to resign in September of the same year after being exposed by netizens for using his position to conduct "insider trading" in 2021.
Prosecutors said that from June to September 2021, Nate Chastain had "inside information" due to his position and knew which NFTs would be exposed on the company's website, so he first secretly bought them at low prices, and then Then wait until the NFT is put on the shelves and the price is driven up, and then quickly sell it for arbitrage.
In order to hide his purchasing behavior, Nate Chastain even used an anonymous wallet and OpenSea account to conduct transactions, thinking that no one would notice, but he was eventually discovered by sharp-eyed netizens.
According to prosecutors' estimates, Nate Chastain made improper profits of more than $50,000 through "insider trading" and "advanced operations." Although the amount was not large, it once plunged OpenSea into a "crisis of trust."
Prosecutors in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) filed wire fraud and money laundering charges against Nate Chastain in June 2022. According to the SDNY, the case against Nate Chastain is the first insider trading case involving digital assets.
Nate Chastain went on trial in Manhattan on April 24 of this year after unsuccessfully trying to have the case dismissed on procedural grounds. After three days of deliberations, the jury found him guilty on both counts. Nate Chastain faces up to 40 years in prison.
This article: A former OpenSea employee was involved in “insider trading”: convicted of money laundering and fraud, and sentenced to up to 40 years in prison. First appeared on Blockchain.