Former OpenSea executive accused of fraud – Bits Media

Former top manager of the OpenSea trading platform will stand trial on charges of insider trading in crypto assets. Based on the totality of charges, he faces up to 40 years of imprisonment.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York charged the former top manager of the торговли NFT OpenSea Натаниэля Честейна (Nathaniel Chastain) in wire fraud and money laundering, received from the insider trading scheme he implemented in non-fungible tokens.

According to US District Attorney Damian Williams (Damian Williams), Chastain manipulated market offers, using confidential information about, when and which NFTs will be listed on the platform. Williams said:

«NFT, perhaps, and new, but this type of criminal scheme is not. We affirm, that Nathaniel Chastain betrayed OpenSea, using her confidential business information, to earn money for yourself. The charges demonstrate our commitment to eliminating insider trading., no matter, whether it happens on the stock market or on the blockchain".

The first accusations against Chastain were made back in September 2021 of the year. Then several OpenSea collectors conducted their own investigation of the movement of funds, related to NFT, and expressed suspicion, that Chastain buys potentially profitable tokens before their public presentation on the site.