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Former Coinbase product manager pleads guilty in insider trading case

February 7, 2023No Comments


Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc., has admitted to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a case that US prosecutors have called the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency.

According to a report Per Reuters, prosecutors claimed that Wahi disclosed private information to his brother Nikhil and his friend Sameer Ramani, regarding impending announcements of new digital assets that Coinbase would allow users to trade. The announcement subsequently caused the assets to increase in value, allowing Nikhil and Sameer Raman to generate illicit gains of at least $1.5 million. Nikhil Wahi and Ramani were accused of using Ethereum (ETH) blockchain wallets to acquire digital assets and trade ahead of Coinbase's announcements.

"I knew that Sameer Ramani and Nikhil Wahi would use that information to make business decisions," Ishan Wahi admitted during Tuesday's hearing in Manhattan federal court. โ€œIt was a mistake to misappropriate and spread ownership of Coinbase,โ€ he added.

As part of his plea deal, Ishan Wahi agreed to be sentenced to between 36 and 47 months in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 10. His brother Nikhil Wahi has already pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison, while Ramani remains a fugitive. Coinbase reportedly shared its findings from an internal investigation into the trade with prosecutors.

Related: Crypto Exchanges Address Insider Trading After Latest Convictions

On Jan. 10, Cointelegraph reported that Ishan Wahi's brother, Nikhil Wahi, had been sentenced to 10 months in prison. on wire fraud conspiracy charges. Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty in September to initiate transactions based on confidential information obtained from his brother, Ishan Wahi.

In the case of Nikhil Wahi, US prosecutors have proposed a prison sentence of between 10 and 16 months because he profited nearly $900,000 from his illicit activities. However, her defense attorneys proposed an alternative outcome, claiming that her driving force behind the crime was paying her parents for her college education and that she had no criminal record.