In the Mango Markets exploit of the DeFi altcoin project Mango Markets, the hacker temporarily 10X the price of the MANGO token. There were victims who lost their money in the process. The protocol suffered losses worth 110 million dollars. The jury found Avraham Eisenberg guilty of $110 million in Mango Markets fraud. Eisenberg now faces 20 years in prison.
Jury finds DeFi altcoin hacker guilty!
As you have been following on Kriptokoin.com, the DeFi altcoin project called Mango Markets was subjected to a serious attack. The perpetrator of this attack, Avi Eisenberg, has been found guilty of fraud and market manipulation by a jury in Manhattan for a heist worth $110 million. Avi Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico following the hack. The prosecution charged Eisenberg with commodity fraud, commodity manipulation and wire fraud. A New York District Court Judge will make the final decision about Eisenberg on July 29. Accordingly, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
During his defense, Eisenberg claimed that they followed Mango Markets’ rules. He also argued that their transactions were successful and legal. However, the jury did not accept this. Eisenberg is the latest crypto figure to be convicted of fraud, following the conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and the subsequent conviction of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon for fraud in a civil fraud case.
Details of the hack
The prosecution described how Eisenberg carried out a well-planned attack on Mango Markets. He pointed out that prior to this attack, he deposited large amounts of USDC stablecoins on the platform. Eisenberg then used this capital to create an over-inflated position in MANGO. This resulted in the DeFi altcoin price being artificially pumped by over 1000% within an hour. The overnight spike in valuation allowed Eisenberg to take a hefty loan against the inflated assets. It also opened the door for him to withdraw large amounts of other digital tokens from the platform.
Eisenberg’s defense and trial testimony
Defense lawyers argued that Eisenberg’s actions were consistent with the trading practices permitted on Mango Markets. The way the platform was designed and its operating mechanisms made such actions possible, the lawyers said. Therefore, there was no illegal action or manipulation and no fraud. Yet, the testimonies of affected users and complex analysis by financial experts revealed a different view.
During the hearing, victims of the DeFi altcoin exploit shared their stories. A UK customer testified that he lost $124,000 because he was unable to withdraw funds during the market chaos. This subjective narrative highlighted the broader impact on Mango Markets’ customers who were unable to access their digital assets. The court also considered evidence that Eisenberg studied certain terms related to market manipulation and criminal investigations before implementing his strategy.
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