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Avraham Eisenberg is facing charges from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commision (CFTC) for market manipulation on Mango Markets.
Eisenberg was arrseted just weeks ago for “commodities fraud” and “commodities manipulation.”
Read more: Mango Storm a-Comin’
In a lawsuit on Monday, Eisenberg is alledged to have violated commodities law by using a "manipulative or deceptive device" to manipulate the price of the MNGO token through swap. Over $100 million worth of crypto was taken from Mango Markets due to an exploit.
Eisenberg claims he was just part of a group that "operated a highly profitable trading strategy" and said he would return some of the funds to Mango, staqting in tweets that his actions were legal.
Statement on recent events:
— Avraham Eisenberg (@avi_eisen) October 15, 2022
I was involved with a team that operated a highly profitable trading strategy last week.
The CTFC said Eisenberg admitted to "his scheme" in a Discord server ahead of the exploit, as well as social media posts after the funds were exploited.
"Contrary to his purported belief that his actions were legal, in fact, they constituted blatant manipulation of spot prices and swaps," the CFTC said.
Read more: Of Outlaws & Governance in a Decentralized System
Nonetheless, Eisenberg's argument that the system worked precisely the way it was intended to is somewhat valid. Mango Markets made a big point of being, truly, mechanically controlled. As we wrote previously even their governance process is done in code and is mechanical.
"It is not illegal to be smarter than your counterparties in a swap transaction, nor is it improper to understand a financial product better than the people who invented that product." - based federal judge Richard Sullivan
— Avraham Eisenberg (@avi_eisen) October 15, 2022
Not legal advice
The position that manipulation is impossible when all participants clearly state they want the system to behave precisely in the way the code is written is logically consistent.
