Key Takeaways
- Eisenberg’s defense team argued that his trades were a “successful and legal trading strategy” that exploited loopholes in the Mango Markets platform
- Prosecutors allege Eisenberg inflated the price of MNGO token through self-dealing in futures contracts before borrowing massive amounts of various crypto.
A jury is deliberating the fate of Avi Eisenberg, a crypto trader accused of manipulating the Mango Markets defi exchange to steal $110 million in December 2022. The two-week trial concluded on April 17th in the Southern District of New York, with closing arguments from both sides painting vastly different pictures of Eisenberg’s actions.
Eisenberg’s defense team, led by attorney Brian Klein, argued that his trades were a “successful and legal trading strategy” that exploited loopholes in the Mango Markets platform. Klein pointed out the lack of formal terms of service on the platform at the time, suggesting Eisenberg simply used the system as designed. “He put his own money at risk,” Klein told jurors on Wednesday.
Prosecutors, however, presented a more sinister narrative. They allege Eisenberg inflated the price of Mango’s MNGO token through self-dealing in futures contracts before borrowing massive amounts of various cryptocurrencies. “He wasn’t borrowing,” Assistant US Attorney Noah Solowsky argued in closing statements, “he was stealing.”
Solowsky further emphasized that Eisenberg’s actions were not those of a confused investor. They pointed to Eisenberg’s post-exploit behavior, including an attempt to extort the Mango DAO by offering to return some of the stolen funds in exchange for immunity.
Eisenberg’s defense countered that his actions post-exploit, such as suing exchanges to recover frozen funds and returning $67 million to Mango Markets, demonstrated he believed his initial trades were legal.
Klein went on to claim that Eisenberg didn’t hide his identity. According to Klein, Eisenberg didn’t try to mix the crypto funds or send them to a secret wallet. Instead, he sent them directly to his own wallet. He further pointed out that Eisenberg sued AscendEx to get back some frozen crypto, indicating he believed the assets were rightfully his.
He went on to argue that Eisenberg went to Israel because of threats on Mango Markets’ Discord channel, not to avoid arrest. He further claimed that Eisenberg’s online searches didn’t prove he knew he was breaking the law; instead, the searches indicated he was uncertain about it.
Eisenberg faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all three counts of commodities fraud, commodities manipulation, and wire fraud.
