NEW YORK (AP) — A brother to a former Coinbase Product manager was handed a jail sentence on Tuesday by Federal prosecutors, who referred to it as the first case of cryptocurrency insider trading.
Nikhil Wahi, 27, of Seattle was sentenced to 10 months in Manhattan federal court after pleading guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to perpetrate wire fraud.
Prosecutors said that Nikhil Wahi started receiving confidential information from his brother, Ishan Wahi, who was then a product manager at Coinbase Global Inc., one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, and utilized that knowledge to purchase crypto assets for profit.
Both the Wahi brothers and their friend, Sameer Ramani, were indicted in July by federal prosecutor Damian Williams, which he described as the first case of government insider trading related to cryptocurrency markets.
Williams commented on Tuesday’s ruling: “This sentence makes it clear that cryptocurrency markets are not lawless. There are real consequences for illegal insider trading, wherever and whenever it occurs.”
In addition to the prison sentence, Nikhil Wahi was ordered to pay a fine of $892,500. Ishan Wahi has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, while Ramani is still at large.
