It's funny how after being exposed for insider trading (before this formal indictment), this guy went on to launch another NFT startup<p><a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/31/opensea-exec-who-quit-after-insider-trading-scandal-is-back-with-nft-platform/" rel="nofollow">https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/31/opensea-exec-wh...</a>
Note: they are charging him with wire fraud and money laundering.<p>The DOJ is not attempting any insider trading specific charge or aiming to define the NFT assets traded. But <i>like</i> insider trading, the wire fraud charge is contingent on the existence of the confidentially agreement with his employer.
That's an interesting case. It's basically a single wire fraud charge, with money laundering added on due to making new accounts to commit the alleged crime.<p>There are recent developments in the area (Kelly and Blaszczak cases) but this probably isn't affected. The crime is using "confidential business information", recognized as a form of intangible property, for personal benefit; the victim is OpenSea. Since the resulting money wasn't taken from anyone, they are seeking forfeiture. It seems like this is somewhat related to a shift from insider trading prosecution to general criminal fraud statutes (insider trading as embezzlement.)<p>Not a lawyer, would love to see analysis from someone who knows a bit more.<p><a href="https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/130.Lustbader_r3uhyngc.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/130.Lustbader_r3uhyngc.pd...</a>
Claims he is charged with insider trading but he's actually being charged with money laundering and wire fraud. There are no laws on the books against insider trading NFTs. Even the closest physical counterpart, art auctions, collectibles, etc have no such laws against using insider info to personal advantage.<p>The charges in this case, seem egregious?
Silly. He was the face/favorite/twitter voice of OpenSea during his employment there, and he blew it for what.. 18 ETH in "fast" gains?
This guy was noticed because tumbled crypto was sent back to his main and publicly known wallet. Obviously he did lots of other careless things (e.g. operate sock puppet accounts that did nothing but do early buys of OpenSea front page NFT). But couldn’t he have at least sent the money to other anonymous wallets and then cash out?
On one hand I support this. On the other hand, pinning one guy to the wall in an industry where every single person is doing this seems a bit unethical.<p>The real smart move is to stay as far from the NFT market as possible because the whole thing is rotten at its core.
lol took many years to arrest elizabeth holmes for a far, far bigger fraud. goes to show how when it comes to crime either go really big or not at all.