After entering a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in September, Nikhil Wahi, 27, of Seattle, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan.
In what federal prosecutors have dubbed the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrencies, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager was given a 10-month jail term on Tuesday.
After entering a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in September, Nikhil Wahi, 27, of Seattle, was sentenced in federal court in Manhattan.
According to the prosecution, Nikhil Wahi started receiving secret information from his brother Ishan Wahi, who was working as a product manager for Coinbase Global Inc. at the time, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, around October 2020. Nikhil Wahi allegedly used this information to sell cryptocurrency assets for a profit.
In July, the government filed charges against the Wahi brothers and a friend, Sameer Ramani, in what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called the first insider trading case using cryptocurrency marketplaces.
The sentencing from Tuesday, according to Williams, “clearly shows that the cryptocurrency markets are not lawless. Wherever and whenever unlawful insider trading happens, there are actual repercussions. Nikhil Wahi also received a jail term and a $892,500 fine. Ramani is at large, while Ishan Wahi has entered a not guilty plea to the accusations levelled against him.
