- A former OpenSea govt has been sentenced to a few months in jail for insider buying and selling.
- The chief, Nathaniel Chastain, reportedly remodeled $50,000 in 2021 from his NFT insider buying and selling scheme.
- Chastain pled not responsible final yr, claiming that nobody instructed him he couldn’t use the insider info.
A former OpenSea govt has been sentenced to a few months in jail for perpetrating the first-ever insider buying and selling scheme involving NFTs. Nathaniel Chastain, who labored because the Head of Product for the NFT market, was discovered responsible of fraud and cash laundering by a federal grand jury earlier this yr. The previous govt was convicted lower than two weeks after his trial started in April this yr.
3 Years Supervised Launch For Ex-OpenSea Govt After Jail
In line with a press launch by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York, Nathaniel Chastain’s three-month-long jail time period might be adopted by one other three months of residence confinement. The previous OpenSea govt will then face three years of supervised launch.
In the present day’s sentence ought to function a warning to different company insiders that insider buying and selling – in any market – is not going to be tolerated.”
Damian Williams, U.S. Legal professional SDNY
Federal prosecutors sought a two-year sentence for Chastain, citing an analogous insider buying and selling case involving a Coinbase supervisor who was sentenced earlier this yr. Nevertheless, the decide overseeing the ex-OpenSea govt’s case gave a lenient sentence, stating that he was a first-time offender and the proceeds from his NFT insider buying and selling have been significantly lower than the Coinbase case.
Chastain was indicted by federal prosecutors in June final yr. He was accused of abusing his place at OpenSea to purchase NFTs that have been set to be featured on {the marketplace}’s homepage. The previous govt made greater than $50,000 between June 2021 and September 2021 by way of his insider buying and selling scheme.
Chastain reportedly used a number of wallets to route his funds and canopy his tracks. After the previous OpenSea govt was formally charged, his legal professionals entered a not-guilty plea and later argued that nobody instructed him that he couldn’t use or share the insider info in query.