Ishan Wahi,
a former Product Manager at Coinbase, has been sentenced to two years
imprisonment in a case US prosecutors called the country’s first ever cryptocurrency
insider trading case. Thirty-two-year-old Wahi from Washington bagged the jail
term for tipping off his brother and friend on multiple occasions with
confidential information about Coinbase’s upcoming token listings.
With the
information, Wahi’s brother, Nikhil, and friend, Sameer Ramani made
over $1.1 million from trading ahead of Coinbase’s public announcements,
according to the US securities regulator which filed charges against
the three individuals in July last year.
The US
Department of Justice announced Wahi’s fate on Tuesday, noting that he was
sentenced by US District Judge Loretta Preska. However, prosecutors did not
comment on the fate of Nikhil and Ramani.
The
sentence comes over three months after Wahi pleaded guilty to two counts of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The confession contradicts the former Coinbase staffer’s claim in 2022 that he was not guilty of wrongdoing.
“Today’s
sentence should send a strong signal to all participants in the cryptocurrency
markets that the laws decidedly do apply to them,” said Damian Williams, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“[The district] will
hold those who engage in insider trading to full account, regardless of whether
their illegal conduct occurs in the equity markets or in the market for crypto
assets,” added Williams.
Ishan Wahi,
a former Product Manager at Coinbase, has been sentenced to two years
imprisonment in a case US prosecutors called the country’s first ever cryptocurrency
insider trading case. Thirty-two-year-old Wahi from Washington bagged the jail
term for tipping off his brother and friend on multiple occasions with
confidential information about Coinbase’s upcoming token listings.
With the
information, Wahi’s brother, Nikhil, and friend, Sameer Ramani made
over $1.1 million from trading ahead of Coinbase’s public announcements,
according to the US securities regulator which filed charges against
the three individuals in July last year.
The US
Department of Justice announced Wahi’s fate on Tuesday, noting that he was
sentenced by US District Judge Loretta Preska. However, prosecutors did not
comment on the fate of Nikhil and Ramani.
The
sentence comes over three months after Wahi pleaded guilty to two counts of
conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The confession…
