Mango Markets Exploiter Avi Eisenberg Found Guilty of Fraud and Manipulation

In December 2022, Eisenberg was taken into custody in Puerto Rico and accused of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme involving commodities, manipulation of these commodities, and wire fraud by the New York District Court. The judge presiding over the case, Arun Subramanian, has not yet passed sentence on him, but Eisenberg stands to serve up to 20 years in federal prison if found guilty.

At New York’s Southern District courtroom during his trial, Eisenberg’s legal team attempted to reframe his trades on Mango Markets as successful and lawful, insisting that they strictly adhered to the protocol’s minimal guidelines when the alleged theft occurred.

The jury, consisting of twelve members, rejected Eisenberg’s explanation and supported the prosecution’s perspective that his actions amounted to blatant deceit and manipulation.

Recently, Eisenberg joined the list of crypto figures facing consequences for fraudulent activities. This comes after the conviction and 25-year sentence imposed on Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, and the civil fraud case verdict against Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, earlier this month.

On October 11, 2022, Eisenberg executed three large MNGO perpetual futures transactions. By manipulating the market, he significantly increased the price of MNGO over 10-fold. Leveraging his inflated profits, he deceived the protocol into granting him $110 million in cryptocurrencies as if it were a loan.

Using a different perspective, Eisenberg’s legal team, led by renowned crypto defense attorney Brian Klein, maintained that Eisenberg’s actions fell within the bounds of the law. However, the prosecution presented a large collection of evidence to the jury, such as internet searches for topics like “market manipulation statute of limitations” and “FBI surveillance,” as well as “elements of fraud,” and Eisenberg’s decision to flee to Israel following the unmasking of his identity as the exploiter. This evidence suggested that Eisenberg was aware that his actions were unlawful.