Ex-Coinbase ex-manager's brother sentenced to 10 months in crypto-assets insider trading case

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A Manhattan federal court has convicted Nikhil Wahi, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager, on charges of insider trading of crypto assets on the platform.

Last July, the SEC charged the formerCoinbase product manager Ishan Wahi and his brother Nikhil Wahi in insider trading. After being taken into custody, Nikhil Vahi admitted to the investigation that he used the information provided by his brother on the future listing of tokens on the Coinbase Global platform for personal gain. Ishan Vahi did not admit his guilt.

On Tuesday, Nikhil Wahi was sentenced to 10months in prison for using his family connections to engage in insider trading in crypto assets. The court ordered Nikhil Wahi to pay a fine of $892,000, equivalent to the profit received from these transactions.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams(Damian Williams) noted that this was the first time in US jurisprudence that “a defendant has pleaded guilty in an insider trading case involving cryptocurrency markets.”

Cooperation with the investigation allowed NikhilWahi will avoid the 20-year sentence imposed on criminals convicted of wire fraud. At the end of his prison term, Nikhil Wahi will be deported from the United States.

In June 2022 against Nathaniel ChastainNathaniel Chastain, a former OpenSea employee, has been sued for fraud and insider trading in digital assets. However, Chastain filed a motion to dismiss those charges in August. His lawyers said that because NFTs had not yet been defined as securities or commodities, he technically did not break any laws.