Crypto trader convicted in $110M Mango Markets fraud trial

Crypto trader Avraham Eisenberg was convicted on Thursday in relation to trades he made in October 2022 to extract more than $100 million from Mango Markets, according to a report from Bloomberg.

28-year-old Eisenberg was charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and commodities manipulation. The jury found him guilty of all three counts.

After closing arguments from the government and defense, the jury deliberated Wednesday afternoon and into Thursday before returning with their verdict. The trial lasted one week and took place just a few floors below where FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced last month.

Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico in December 2022. Prosecutors say he illegally made off with $110 million after manipulating Mango Market futures contracts and pumping the price of swaps by 1,000%. He then borrowed against the contracts and boarded a flight from Puerto Rico to Israel.

The government says he was fleeing because he committed a crime, but Eisenbergs defense team claims he was running after receiving numerous threats following his trades.

“The more he pumped, the more he could steal,” government attorneys said Wednesday during their closing arguments. “It is clear as day the defendant knew” he was committing crimes, the prosecution added.

The defense‘s case focused on the structure of decentralized exchange Mango Markets, which, Eisenberg’s team says, allowed for the trades to take place.

Eisenberg employed a “successful, legal trading strategy,” defense attorney Brian Klein told the jury Wednesday.

His client was never asked to prove his identity, maintain collateral on the platform or complete a credit check, Klein said.

In the government‘s rebuttal, assistant US attorney Thomas Burnett said that the defense was trying to distract from the government’s claims.

“The data and documents show he was borrowing. You should believe your own eyes,” he told the court.