SEC charges Mango Markets exploiter for allegedly stealing $116M in crypto

The SEC has accused Avraham Eisenberg of manipulating the Mango Markets platform by manipulating the MNGO token, which the company allegedly sold as a security.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has followed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and others in filing parallel charges against the crypto user allegedly behind a multimillion dollar exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets.

In a Jan. 20 notice, the SEC alleged Avraham Eisenberg manipulated Mango Markets’ MNGO governance token, allowing him to steal roughly $116 million worth of cryptocurrency from the platform. According to the complain, Eisenberg allegedly executed a series of large MNGO purchases in order to artificially raise the price of the token relative to USD Coin (USDC), then drained the assets from Mango Markets.

“Eisenberg engaged in a manipulative and deceptive scheme to artificially inflate the price of the MNGO token, which was purchased and sold as a crypto asset security, in order to borrow and then withdraw nearly all available assets from Mango Markets, which left the platform at a deficit when the security price returned to its pre-manipulation level,” said David Hirsch, head of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit.

The SEC has charged Eisenberg with violations of the anti-fraud and market manipulation provisions of securities laws. According to the financial regulator, it will be seeking “permanent injunctive relief, a conduct-based injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties”.

This story is developing and will be updated.