Cryptocurrency trader Avi Eisenberg may testify in his criminal commodity fraud and tampering trial, his defense team said Thursday. They have not yet taken a final decision on the matter, as the government's case is nearing its end.
The 28-year-old cryptocurrency trader could face up to 20 years in prison if a 15-person jury convicts him of all three charges stemming from his October 2022 trades on the DeFi trading platform Mango Markets, which netted him at least $110. . Million dollars in various cryptocurrencies. The government seeks to portray the trade as illegal gains from market manipulation, while the defense describes it as a legitimate business strategy.
Prosecutors are nearing the end of their week-long case against Eisenberg. On Thursday, they called a special agent and an expert witness who briefed the jury on how Eisenberg raised the prices of MNGO tokens on AscendX, FTX, and Serum in order to inflate the value of perpetual contracts he was trading on the decentralized MANGO markets. exchange. Then they said he had borrowed or withdrawn more than $100 million from the stock market.
The government's case against Eisenberg has yet to reach the aftermath of that trade, when Mango Markets founder Dafydd Durairaj negotiated the return of $67 million to the platform and in return promised not to press charges against him. Prosecutors told the court on Thursday that they no longer plan to call Durairaj to the stand.
This shift has complicated the defense's plan to question him under oath even though they have not sent a subpoena to Durraj yet. Lead defense attorney Sanford Talkin asked Judge Arum Subramanian whether the court could compel Durairaj's lawyer Raphael Yakobi to accept a subpoena on behalf of his client.
