FBI Agent Who Investigated Trump-Russia Collusion Has Been Arrested for Colluding with Russia

A former senior FBI counterintelligence official involved in the Trump-Russia probe was arrested and charged over the weekend for money laundering and violating sanctions against Russia while secretly working with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch who the U.S. government sanctioned.

Charles McGonigal was the special agent in charge of counterintelligence in the FBI’s New York Field Office until he retired in 2018. McGonigal was arrested Saturday afternoon at JFK Airport, following travels in Sri Lanka, according to Fox News sources.

McGonigal, 54, is accused of violating U.S. sanctions by agreeing to provide services to Deripaska. The Russian billionaire was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2018 for reasons relating to the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia. The oligarch was criminally charged last year with violating those sanctions.

Sergey Shestakov, a former Soviet and Russian diplomat, was also arrested on Saturday, according to the indictment. After becoming a U.S. citizen, Shestakov, 69,  worked as a Russian interpreter for courts and government offices.

McGonigal has hit with a second indictment on Monday, on charges related to his receipt of $225,000 in cash from a former employee of a foreign intelligence service, while he was still employed at the Bureau.

According to the nine-count indictment, unsealed today, from August 2017 and continuing through and beyond his retirement from the FBI in September 2018, McGonigal concealed from the FBI the nature of his relationship with a former foreign security officer and businessperson who had ongoing business interests in foreign countries and before foreign governments. Specifically, McGonigal requested and received at least $225,000 in cash from the individual and traveled abroad with the individual and met with foreign nationals. The individual later served as an FBI source in a criminal investigation involving foreign political lobbying over which McGonigal had official supervisory responsibility. McGonigal is accused of engaging in other conduct in his official capacity as an FBI Special Agent in Charge that he believed would benefit the businessperson financially.

McGonigal and Shestakov “both previously worked with Deripaska to attempt to have his sanctions removed, and, as public servants, they should have known better,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement. “This Office will continue to prosecute those who violate U.S. sanctions enacted in response to Russian belligerence in Ukraine in order to line their own pockets.”

Both men are charged with one count of conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (“IEEPA”), one count of violating the IEEPA, one count of conspiring to commit money laundering, and one count of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Shestakov is also charged with one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, prosecutors said.

“The FBI is committed to the enforcement of economic sanctions designed to protect the United States and our allies, especially against hostile activities of a foreign government and its actors,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Michael J. Driscoll said. “Russian oligarchs like Oleg Deripaska perform global malign influence on behalf of the Kremlin and are associated with acts of bribery, extortion, and violence.”

“After sanctions are imposed, they must be enforced equally against all U.S. citizens in order to be successful,” Driscoll added. “There are no exceptions for anyone, including a former FBI official like Mr. McGonigal. Supporting a designated threat to the United States and our allies is a crime the FBI will continue to pursue aggressively.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) designated Deripaska as a Specially Designated National (“SDN”) on April 6, 2018, and sanctioned him “for acting on behalf of a senior official of the Russian Federation’s government and for operating in the Russian energy sector.”

In 2021, the two defendants agreed to and did investigate a rival Russian oligarch of Deripaska in return for concealed payments from Derispaska, in violation of sanctions the United States imposed in 2018, the indictment says. McGonigal and Shestakov allegedly knew their actions violated U.S. sanctions because, among other reasons, while serving as special agent in charge, McGonigal received then-classified information that Deripaska would be added to a list of oligarchs considered for sanctions.

As part of their negotiations with Deripaska’s agent, McGonigal, Shestakov and the agent attempted to conceal Deripaska’s involvement by, among other means, not directly naming Deripaska in electronic communications, using shell companies as counterparties in the contract that outlined the services to be performed, using a forged signature on that contract, and using the same shell companies to send and receive payments from Deripaska, according to the indictment.

In 2019, McGonigal and Shestakov also allegedly worked on behalf of Deripaska in an unsuccessful effort to have the sanctions against Deripaska lifted. In November 2021, when FBI agents questioned Shestakov about the nature of his and McGonigal’s relationship with Deripaska’s agent, the interpreter made false statements in a recorded interview, federal prosecutors said.

While serving as chief of the cybercrimes section at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., McGonigal was reportedly one of the first bureau officials to pick up on George Papadopoulos’ boast that he knew the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. The former 2016 Trump advisor’s gossipy remarks helped spur the Operation Crossfire Hurricane.

McGonigal was also involved in the bureau’s probe of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, according to text messages released by Senate Republicans. “Our Team is currently talking to [Carter Page] re Russia,” he wrote on March 16, 2017, to an FBI colleague.

Deripaska has ties to disgraced former British spy Christopher Steele, who compiled the infamous dossier that alleged the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

Steele acted as a paid lobbyist on behalf Deripaska, and used the FBI to launder his political work. “Steele furnished intelligence information that the FBI disseminated, including in four Intelligence Information Reports (IIRs) sent throughout the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) concerning the activities of Russian oligarchs,” Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz Horowitz confirmed. “By the time Steele was closed by the FBI as a CHS [confidential human source] in November 2016, the FBI had disseminated 10 IIRs based on Steele’s reporting.”

Sergei Millian, a pro-Trump Belarusian-American businessman was falsely accused of being a source for the Steele Dossier, and of being someone who substantiated the existence of the infamous “pee tape.”

Special Counsel John Durham’s years-long investigation into the FBI’s “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation however determined that Steele’s colleague Igor Danchenko was the primary researcher behind the now debunked and discredited dossier.

Millian, who has fought for years to regain his reputation after it was dragged through the mud, said on Twitter that Durham should talk to McGonigal, as he “now has a motive to out the co-conspirators who made false accusations against President Trump.”

Call Me “Thuggin” | Vermont | Covid-19 Fraud

We don’t need much more proof that fraud was rampant in the COVID-19 relief funds established in the American Rescue Plan to aid Americans during the pandemic. The U.S Government have already estimated the numbers siphoned from aid to be over $100 billion. With an economic crisis looming and citizen hardship growing, restrictions were eased with the intent to get the aid out as quickly as possible. But every once in a while there is a fraudster that can make us question whether there was any screening of COVID aid applications at all. Like Andrew Hollins. Also known as Andrew Jones. Also known as Grandma and Grandpa. Also known as “Thuggin.”

Andrew Hollins allegedly fraudulently filed for COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loans for two fake companies, A.J. Motors and The Krusty Krab Shack. No, he did not use the name Sponge Bob Square Pants as the owner, unfortunately. He had established the businesses with two bank accounts using the name Andrew Jones. Hollins supplied the applications with false receipts of sales, employee count and cost of goods sold. He also allegedly submitted a fraudulent EIDL loan application in the name of his friend’s grandparents. Once he received the funds, he laundered the money by purchasing blank money orders at Shaw’s Supermarkets in Vermont. Many of those money orders were made payable to third parties, who cashed the money orders and returned the proceeds to Hollins in exchange for drugs.

Wait! Drugs? Yes, because our fraudster is also a drug dealer. Hollins has a third name. When he is on the streets, he goes by “Thuggin.” Thuggin’s drug career began way before his fraudster career, with criminal records starting in June 2013 for firearms, burglary, and drug dealing, along with an equally long history of parole violations.

Great job by the Attorney General’s Office. Court date has yet to be set.

Today’s Fraud of the Day is based on article “Convicted drug dealer indicted in federal fraud case” published y The Barre Montpelier Times Argue on December 16, 2022

A convicted Essex Junction drug dealer has been indicted for illegally obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars by defrauding a federal relief program by filing for false COVID-related business loans, federal court records show.

Andrew Hollins, 36, of Pearl Street, opened bank accounts in Vermont in the name of Andrew Jones and also created two businesses with related bank accounts — A.J. Motor Cars LLC and The Krusty Krab Shack LLC — as part of the fraud, the indictment stated.

Insider Trading Via Coinbase Gets Nikhil Wahi 10 Month Sentence

 

A U.S. District Judge sentenced Nikhil Wahi to 10 months in prison on Tuesday, bringing one part of a historic cryptocurrency criminal case to a close. Wahi, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud last July in what prosecutors called the “first ever cryptocurrency insider trading case.”

“I made a huge mistake, a terrible mistake,” Wahi said Tuesday.

Nikhil pleaded guilty to that charge in September, admitting that his brother, Ishan Wahi, used his position at one of the largest crypto exchanges to pass along confidential information on asset listings. Ishan would tell Nikhil when a coin was about to be listed on Coinbase. And in response, Nikhil bought up shares of the cryptocurrencies just before they showed up on the popular exchange via an anonymous wallet. When the coin values inevitably went up after listing, legitimated by their presence on Coinbase, Nikhil would sell the shares off for a profit, according to a statement from the New York’s Southern District Attorney.

“Today’s sentence makes clear that the cryptocurrency markets are not lawless,” said prosecuting U.S. Attorney, Damian Williams.

In total, Nikhil reportedly made $892,500 off of his brother’s illicit advice, trading ahead of 40 different Coinbase announcements, according to a report from Reuters. He has been ordered to pay back that entire sum as part of his sentencing—on top of the 10 months of incarceration.

“It’s something that I will have to live with forever,” Nikhil Wahi told the sentencing judge, Loretta Preska, according to a report from Bloomberg. He is subject to deportation to India following the completion of his prison term. Nikhil’s defense attorney claimed that her client was motivated by a desire to support his parents in India, and repay them for his U.S. college education, reported Bloomberg.

Ishan and a third party, a friend of Nikhil’s named Sameer Ramani, are also facing criminal charges over the insider trading scheme. Ishan pled not guilty to his charge, and was released on bail in July. His case is pending. Ramani, on the other hand, is not in U.S. custody and is considered at large.

“There are real consequences to illegal insider trading, wherever and whenever it occurs,” Williams, the prosecutor, said. Yet one conviction and sentencing does not a robust system of regulation make. A crypto insider trading scandal even reached the hallowed halls of Congress earlier this year. The House Ethics Committee fined North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn $15,000 for his apparent illicit advanced knowledge of NASCAR’s failed Let’s Go Brandon Coin sponsorship, and his promotion of the memecoin. Cawthorn did not face criminal charges. And, as always, scams and fraud abound on the blockchain. The fraud trial of FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled for October.

The fact that the Wahi brothers were caught mostly came down to a luck. Twitter user @cobie noted a sketchy Ethereum purchase and posted about it. “Found an ETH address that bough hundreds of thousands of dollars of tokens exclusively featured in the Coinbase Asset Listing post about 24 hours before it was published,” @cobie tweeted on April 12, according a report from The Verge. A day later, Coinbase’s chief security exec responded to say the exchange was investigating. Other tweets have pointed out similar anomalies, though those tweets have not resulted in anyone’s arrest.

CoinMarketCap-led token airdrops ‘infected by fraud,’ crypto project claims

 

Two crypto projects have cried foul play over promotional airdrops conducted by CoinMarketCap (CMC) on their behalf, which they allege was “gamed” for the benefit of a small group of exploiters.

These promotional airdrops — designed to be distributed to thousands of wallets to raise awareness of a crypto project — ended with the tokens funneling to just a handful of wallets, suggesting potential manipulation of the system.

SATT token drop

Blockchain advertising solution SaTT alleged to Cointelegraph that a promotional airdrop it paid CMC to conduct in Dec. 2022 ended with 84% of the airdropped tokens funneling to just 21 wallets.

The promotion was meant to see 25,000 winning wallets receive 4,000 SATT each, worth $6.30 at the time per CoinGecko data.

However, SaTT claimed that shortly after the airdrop was distributed, 20,953 wallets “automatically transferred the tokens to 21 wallet addresses” which then sold off their token holdings days later around Dec. 10, netting around $142,000 for those 21 wallet owners.

The sell-off plunged the price of SATT by 70% between the end of the airdrop on Dec. 1 to when the wallets sold their tokens on Dec. 10.

TokenBot token drop

A similar experience was shared by TokenBot co-founder Shaun Newsum, who told Cointelegraph that it did a similar CMC-led airdrop of its TKB token on Dec. 9.

Newsum said CMC provided its 30,000 airdrop winners but he chose to “stagger” the airdrop “just in case something happens.”

TokenBot sent out its tokens to a batch of 4,000 winners to start, but around 3,300 ended up sending the funds to one wallet, said Newsum.

Newsum said around $20,000 was lost by TokenBot in the incident and the project had to deploy more liquidity from its treasury.

“Obviously some person figured out how to game CMC,” he added. “If we were to have bulk sent, the whole airdrop would’ve been a complete disaster.”

Newsum however said he has since received an apology from CMC and was told that it was investigating the airdrop and would return with an updated winners list for the project.

In its investigation, SaTT claims to have found another 18 tokens or nonfungible tokens (NFTs) airdrops conducted by CMC since Jul. 2022 that were also allegedly “infected by fraud” to the tune of $6.6 million.

This included airdrops for projects including TopGoal, OwlDAO and AgeofGods.

SaTT theorized two possibilities of how the “fraud” occurred:

“Either a group of hackers injected tons of fake accounts [into the airdrop on CMC’s website] […] or it was actually an inside job.”

CoinMarketCap responds

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a CMC spokesperson addressed some of these claims, arguing that at least four of the projects identified by SaTT have yet to distribute rewards, meaning it would be “impossible” for them to have faced “malicious” activity.

It also noted that while three projects, including SaTT, AgeOfGods and TokenBot have spoken to the CMC team about their concerns, it has not received any communications from other projects about the alleged issues.

The spokesperson however acknowledged that “bots are an issue that touches nearly every industry.”

“The industry has been facing this issue among airdrop programs for some time and the reality is that not a single industry has been able to solve the bot issue entirely.”

“We are continuously working to improve our systems and services to limit this issue and will work closely with these projects to find solutions and help resolve any current issues,” the spokesperson added.

CMC added that any claims of bot participation in its airdrops are taken “very seriously” and itis “working on resolving each case individually.”

It also shared several features it has employed to deter bot participation, such as a CAPTCHA challenge and email verification requirements for participants. It’s also developing a two-factor authentication integration.

Cointelegraph contacted TopGoal and OwlDAO for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publicati. AgeofGods could not be reached for comment.

Online lovers urged to look out for romance scams after AFP observes spike

 

Aussies in online relationships have been warned to look out for signs their “partners” may be using them to launder money after a national crackdown identified more than a dozen victims of romance scams.

An anti-money laundering campaign initiated by the Australian Federal Police found 15 people had been used as money mules, leading to 21 arrests around the country.

The victims had been exploited into transferring illicit money on behalf of seasoned criminals, many of whom were the members of syndicates.

While police officers intervened when these incidents involved innocent victims, those who were found to knowingly participate in legal schemes could face serious penalties, including jail for up to 25 years, the AFP warned.

Australians who were charged were accused of dealing in the proceeds of crime.

AFP cybercrime operations commander Chris Goldsmid said some criminals were trying to prey on people who felt lonely because they considered them more susceptible to manipulation.

“Romance scams are a common method for criminals to enlist money mules because they put pressure on them emotionally,” Commander Goldsmid said.

“Criminals will invest a significant amount of time – sometimes years – building what seems to be a legitimate relationship with their victim.

“They will express their love for the victim and, in some cases, promise marriage but will often have a complicated story about why they cannot meet in person.”

The scammers would often send the victim money or gifts to help win their trust, he warned.

“Once they’ve gained their victim’s trust, the criminal will ask them to set up a new bank account, or will transfer money into their existing account with a request to forward the funds offshore to people claimed to be their friends, family or businesses,” he said.

“People should question why someone needs to use their bank account to transfer money offshore rather than doing it themselves.

“Criminals want to use someone else’s legitimate Australian bank accounts to obfuscate the flow of money and hide their illegal tracks.”

The AFP warned that anyone could be a target and criminals would go above and beyond to ensure their victim was convinced to “help” them.

“Money mules need to understand that the funds they’re moving are proceeds from serious criminal activities, such as drug sales, the black market firearms trade or cyber scams, and this money will be going to violent, transnational crime syndicates,” Commander Goldsmid said.

“Transferring money on behalf of someone else may seem relatively harmless, but if they were not legitimately earned funds, it makes you complicit in the illegal activities and is a criminal offence.”

People should talk to a trusted friend or family member before transferring any funds at an online partner’s request, police warned

“Never provide your banking details or identity documents to someone you’ve met online. If in doubt – don’t,” Commander Goldsmid said.

Originally published as Online lovers urged to look out for romance scams

The Montana Law Prohibiting COVID-19 Kill Shot Vaccination Mandates in Health Care Settings Is Unconstitutional: According to Molloy, a Clinton Appointee, Satan Soldiers Never Stop!

 
 
 

HNewsWire:

American health care, as we call it today, and for all its high-tech miracles, has evolved into one of the most atrocious rackets the world has ever seen. By racket, I mean an enterprise organized explicitly to make dishonest money.

A federal judge in Montana has ruled that parts of the state’s law preventing discrimination against individuals in health care settings based on their COVID-19 vaccination status are unconstitutional.

 

 
 
 
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Sources: HNewsWire  HNewsWire  HNewsWire

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Todd Chrisley Accused of Forcing Ex-Daughter-in-Law to Lie Under Oath to Save His Skin

The disgraced reality star is sentenced to 12 years in prison, while his wife Julie Chrisley is sentenced to 7 years after they’re found guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion.

AceShowbizTodd Chrisley might be desperate to save his name. The disgraced reality TV star, who’s sentenced to 12 years behind bars and 16 months of probation in bank fraud and tax evasion case, has been accused of forcing his former daughter-in-law Alexus Whilby to lie under oath just “to save his skin.”

Speaking to Daily Mail, Alexus claimed that Todd once pressured her to tell lies to the court. “During the time when [Kyle Chrisley] and I were still married, Todd had his attorneys come to my place of business, to my home, and threaten legal action, trying to pressure me to sign this legal document saying I was not an official informant, all in a bid to find out if I was,” Alexus told the outlet.

“He was trying to put me in the light of being the one who had done the damage [to him and Julie Chrisley]. He was trying to smoke me out and then have me change everything around. Lie for him,” Alexus continued. “That’s what it was about, that’s what he wanted us to do.”

Alexus further noted that she ignored Todd’s request. “I could see how that pressure could make you fold, but I stood on, ‘No, I’m not going to do it.’ I stood up for what was right, and he came for me big time,” she shared.

Alexus was married to Kyle, Chrisley’s oldest son from his first marriage, for six years and enmeshed in the family for much longer. Reacting to her former father-in-law’s prison sentence, she admitted that she feels nothing but relief.

“I always knew that justice would one day prevail after years of being silent,” Alexus confessed. “Finally, through the legal system, and a very long time coming, 12 jurors were able to uncover the real Todd Chrisley, the one I have encountered for years.”

Alexus added, “There were a lot of victims that they silenced [over the years] and even the prosecution noted when [Todd and Julie] used the tactic of trying to bring in family members to corroborate their stories and risk perjury, the word perjury was actually used by the prosecution.”

Todd, along with his wife Julie, was sentenced to multiple years in prison on Monday, November 21. Judge Eleanor Ross sentenced Todd to 12 years in prison, while Julie was sentenced to 7 years. The couple will reportedly have to serve 16 months of probation.

The sentencing also hugely affected their TV shows. It’s reported that “Chrisley Knows Best” and its spin-off “Growing Up Chrisley” were all canceled. The family also lost their third TV show, “Love Limo“.

Following the sentencing, Todd, Chrisley and their family are reportedly “inconsolable.” It’s said that the “entire family was in complete shock, and they still are.” An insider told HollywoodLife.com earlier this week,” When they first learned the sentence, they were all hysterical and there was lots of crying from everyone. No one could believe that this was the outcome.”

S’pore Man Cheats Strangers Of Money At MRT Stations For 4 Years, Faces Jailtime

Man Cheats Strangers Of Money At MRT Stations Since 2019

Most Singaporeans would have no qualms about helping someone who’s in need and will not think much beyond the initial deed.

However, this was likely the very mindset that a certain Singaporean man preyed on throughout a four-year period, during which he cheated 78 strangers of their money.

Often preying on younger girls and students at MRT stations, the man would claim that he didn’t have money to get back home and would ‘borrow’ money from his victims.

Source: winds lu on Flickr. For illustration purposes only.

In total, he cheated his victims of about S$28,000 to cover for his purported expenses.

On Friday (23 Sep), he pleaded guilty to five counts of cheating and was sentenced to one year’s jail.

Man cheats 78 strangers S$28,000 at MRT stations

According to TODAY, Byron Yeaw – now 26 – exploited the kindness of strangers for over four years since early 2019.

His tactics would usually involve waiting at MRT stations and approaching passersby, lying that he had to travel to a distant part of the country.

After that, he’ll ask them to check the cost of a taxi or private-hire vehicle to the location.

With the premise set, he’ll tell his victims that he has to arrange the rides himself to claim the sum from his employer.

The victims would then send him the amounts after receiving assurances through the form of his identification documents.

Yeaw would subsequently use the money transferred by his victims on his personal expenses.

This reportedly went on for four years and the sum scammed totalled about S$28,000.

Arrested thrice during his cheating spree

Yeaw’s motivation behind his crimes was reportedly due to personal financial issues.

In 2019, when he started his cheating spree, Yeaw was reportedly an employee with Singtel.

He was arrested in Mar 2020, and once again in 2021. The latter resulted from attempting to cheat strangers of larger funds to fund his gambling habits.

Although he was eventually released for the second time in Aug 2021, Yeaw continued to cheat till Mar 2022, when he was remanded.

Cheats an NSF for almost all his money

One of his more prominent victims was an NSF he duped of S$2,000.

Yeaw reportedly met the NSF at Yew Tee MRT Station in Feb 2022 and told him that he only had S$0.50 in his bank account.

He then told a story of how his human resources department had not given him his S$3,000 salary on time and that he needed to borrow money to survive till the end of the month.

Despite only having S$2,100 in his bank account, the NSF gave most of that to Yeaw.

The victim only wisened up and lodged a police report after Yeaw attempted to ask for the remaining S$100.

 

 

Former Coinbase Manager’s Brother Pleads Guilty in Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Case

 

The brother of a former Coinbase product manager has pleaded guilty in a cryptocurrency insider trading case. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he is facing up to 20 years in federal prison.

DOJ’s First Crypto Insider Trading Case

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that Nikhil Wahi, the brother of a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN), “pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in cryptocurrency assets.” The DOJ calls it the “first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading case.” Nikhil Wahi was arrested in July.

His brother, Ishan Wahi, worked at Coinbase as a product manager assigned to the cryptocurrency trading platform’s asset listing team beginning in October 2020.

The Justice Department explained that on multiple occasions between July 2021 and May 2022, Nikhil Wahi profited from using “confidential Coinbase information about which crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on Coinbase.”

After getting tips from his brother as to which crypto assets Coinbase was planning to list on its exchanges, Nikhil Wahi “used anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire those crypto assets shortly before Coinbase publicly announced the listings,” the DOJ detailed, elaborating:

Following Coinbase’s public listing announcements, on multiple occasions Nikhil Wahi sold the crypto assets for a profit.

The DOJ explained that to conceal his purchases, Nikhil Wahi “used accounts at centralized exchanges held in the names of others, and transferred funds, crypto assets, and proceeds of their scheme through multiple anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets.”

Nikhil Wahi “also regularly created and used new Ethereum blockchain wallets without any prior transaction history in order to further conceal his involvement in the scheme,” the Justice Department added, noting:

Nikhil Wahi, 26, of Seattle, Washington, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also slapped the two brothers and their friend with insider trading charges. Nikhil Wahi and the friend “allegedly purchased at least 25 crypto assets, at least nine of which were securities, and then typically sold them shortly after the announcements for a profit. The long-running insider trading scheme generated illicit profits totaling more than $1.1 million,” the SEC detailed.

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What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

 

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

 

 

 

Former Coinbase Manager’s Brother Pleads Guilty in Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Case

The brother of a former Coinbase product manager has pleaded guilty in a cryptocurrency insider trading case. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), he is facing up to 20 years in federal prison.

DOJ’s First Crypto Insider Trading Case

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that Nikhil Wahi, the brother of a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc. (Nasdaq: COIN), “pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a scheme to commit insider trading in cryptocurrency assets.” The DOJ calls it the “first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading case.” Nikhil Wahi was arrested in July.

His brother, Ishan Wahi, worked at Coinbase as a product manager assigned to the cryptocurrency trading platform’s asset listing team beginning in October 2020.

The Justice Department explained that on multiple occasions between July 2021 and May 2022, Nikhil Wahi profited from using “confidential Coinbase information about which crypto assets were scheduled to be listed on Coinbase.”

After getting tips from his brother as to which crypto assets Coinbase was planning to list on its exchanges, Nikhil Wahi “used anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets to acquire those crypto assets shortly before Coinbase publicly announced the listings,” the DOJ detailed, elaborating:

Following Coinbase’s public listing announcements, on multiple occasions Nikhil Wahi sold the crypto assets for a profit.

The DOJ explained that to conceal his purchases, Nikhil Wahi “used accounts at centralized exchanges held in the names of others, and transferred funds, crypto assets, and proceeds of their scheme through multiple anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets.”

Nikhil Wahi “also regularly created and used new Ethereum blockchain wallets without any prior transaction history in order to further conceal his involvement in the scheme,” the Justice Department added, noting:

Nikhil Wahi, 26, of Seattle, Washington, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also slapped the two brothers and their friend with insider trading charges. Nikhil Wahi and the friend “allegedly purchased at least 25 crypto assets, at least nine of which were securities, and then typically sold them shortly after the announcements for a profit. The long-running insider trading scheme generated illicit profits totaling more than $1.1 million,” the SEC detailed.