- Avraham Eisenberg has been hit with more charges relating to his activities on the Mango Markets platform
- Eisenberg was charged stealing crypto assets worth $116 million by the SEC
- Eisenberg was arrested last month and will now be deported to New York to face three charges
2023 has gotten worse for Avraham Eisenberg, who was last week hit with more charges relating to his manipulation of Mango Markets in October. In addition to parallel charges already brought by the U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Eisenberg has now been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with stealing crypto assets worth $116 million from the platform in relation to the MNGO token, Mango’s governance token. Eisenberg has been in police custody since late December and will soon be deported from Puerto Rico to New York.
Eisenberg Used Multiple Accounts
The SEC, in a press release announcing charges, alleges that Eisenberg, who operated the scheme in Puerto Rico, used one account on Mango Markets to sell a large number of perpetual futures for MNGO tokens and another account to buy those same futures. The complaint also states that Eisenberg then conducted a series of large purchases of thinly traded MNGO tokens, with the intent of artificially inflating the price of MNGO relative to USD Coin.
As a result of these transactions, the price of MNGO perpetual futures on Mango Markets, including those held by Eisenberg, increased. According to the complaint, Eisenberg then used the increased value of his MNGO perpetual futures position to borrow and withdraw approximately $116 million worth of various crypto assets from Mango Markets, effectively draining all available assets from the platform.
Charges Mounting Up
Eisenberg exploited Mango Markets for approximately $100 million back in October, bragging about his achievement the following month but was less boastful when he was hit with manipulation charges by the U.S. Justice Department and the CFTC for “willfully and knowingly” engaging in a scheme involving the “intentional and artificial manipulation” of the price of perpetual futures on Mango Markets.
Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico for the crimes late last month, with the FBI believing that he may also have perpetrated a similar failed attack on the Aave protocol.
