(Bloomberg) — The brother of a former Coinbase Global Inc. product manager was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months for his role in a scheme to trade on confidential information about when the cryptocurrency exchange was going to list new tokens.
(Bloomberg) — The brother of a former Coinbase Global Inc. product manager was sentenced Tuesday to 10 months for his role in a scheme to trade on confidential information about when the cryptocurrency exchange was going to list new tokens.
Nikhil Wahi, 26, pleaded guilty in September to a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors claim tips from his brother enabled Wahi and a friend, Sameer Ramani, to make more than $1 million on trades.
Prosecutors had asked US District Judge Loretta Preska in New York to sentence Wahi to as much as 16 months in prison. At the time of his guilty plea, the government said it was a milestone in efforts to police cryptocurrency markets.
Wahi and his brother, former Coinbase employee Ishan Wahi, were both arrested in July. Ishan Wahi has pleaded not guilty. Ramani was not in US custody at the time and has not made an appearance in the case.
Coinbase, the largest US trading platform for digital currencies, allows users buy and sell more than 150 tokens, which can often see a rush of interest immediately after they are included on the exchange. Prosecutors claim that, between July 2021 and May 2022, Nikhil Wahi used anonymous Ethereum wallets to take advantage of his brother’s tips and buy cryptocurrencies before Coinbase announced they were to be listed on the exchange.
The case is US v Wahi, 22-cr-392, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
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