Open Sea's former manager, Nathaniel Chastain, was convicted of insider trading by using its confidential information to make money for himself.
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According to a report from Reuters, federal prosecutors in Manhattan believe Chastain made at least $50,000 in illegal profit. Chastain had pleaded not guilty, while his lawyer said the legal team would "evaluate our options."
Prosecutor Allison Nichols claims Chastain was aware of his actions, as he used anonymous OpenSea accounts to make the illegal trades. Nichols said:
"He hid what he was doing. He knew that he had violated OpenSea's confidentiality agreement."
US prosecutors charged Chastain with insider trading in June last year. In one of those insider trades, Chastain quadrupled his investments by purchasing a non-fungible token before it was featured on the NFT marketplace. According to prosecutors, the former top manager was using this scheme from June to September 2021, when he was responsible for selecting NFTs that would be featured on OpenSea.
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