News & Analysis as of

Digital Assets Wire Fraud Insider Trading

DLA Piper

Blockchain and Digital Assets News and Trends – August 2025

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This periodic bulletin is designed to help companies identify important legal developments governing the use and acceptance of blockchain technology, smart contracts, and digital assets....more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Second Circuit Vacates Fraud Conviction in First Crypto “Insider Trading” Case

In United States v. Chastain, No. 23-7038, 2025 WL 2165839 (2d Cir. July 31, 2025), the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated wire fraud and money laundering convictions in what the government...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Recent Developments in the Law of Federal Property Fraud: It’s a Long and Winding Road

In two recent high-profile decisions, Chastain v. United States and Johnson v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed wire fraud convictions that were based on theories resembling insider...more

Perkins Coie

Second Circuit Narrows Scope of Federal Criminal Fraud Statute in NFT “Insider Trading” Case

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In United States v. Chastain, a split panel of the Second Circuit recently vacated the convictions of a former executive of an NFT marketplace who had been charged with misusing confidential information to trade NFTs for...more

DLA Piper

Second Circuit Vacates NFT “Insider Trading” Conviction, Clarifies Property Requirement for Wire Fraud

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The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has vacated the conviction of Nathaniel Chastain, a former employee of non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea. Chastain had been convicted of wire fraud and money...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Second Circuit Vacates Former OpenSea Employee’s “Insider Trading” Conviction

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On June 1, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged former OpenSea employee Nathaniel Chastain with wire fraud1 for an NFT “insider trading” scheme. At the time, we here at SKrypto asked:...more

A&O Shearman

Second Circuit Vacates Wire Fraud Conviction For “Insider Trading” On NFTs

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On July 31, 2025, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an opinion vacating the wire fraud and money laundering convictions of a former manager of a marketplace for non-fungible...more

BakerHostetler

Jury Finds Former NFT Marketplace Manager Guilty of 'Insider Trading' Wire Fraud Scheme and Money Laundering

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On May 3, 2023, a jury found Nathaniel Chastain, a former manager of OpenSea (a major NFT marketplace), guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with his attempts to conceal his use of confidential business...more

Harris Beach Murtha PLLC

Coinbase Insider Trading Shows Crypto Regulation Has Matured

Prosecution of executives for insider trading is not necessarily headline news – except when the prosecution involves the SEC wading deep into the waters of defining crypto as a security enroute to securing two guilty pleas. ...more

Proskauer - Corporate Defense and Disputes

Second Circuit Questions Use of Criminal Insider-Trading Statute Without Proof of Receipt of Personal Benefit

The Second Circuit held yesterday that a government agency’s nonpublic, pre-decisional regulatory information does not constitute “property” for purposes of the federal insider-trading and wire-fraud statutes. The decision...more

Foley Hoag LLP - White Collar Law &...

New York Federal Prosecutors Indict Defendant in Connection with NFT Insider-Trading Scheme

Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York recently charged Nathan Chastain with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a purported scheme to illegally profit from sales and purchases of...more

Polsinelli

Concerning Questions Raised by SEC Action Against Former Coinbase Employee

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On July 21, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) each alleged insider trading violations against a former Coinbase employee, his brother, and another alleged acquaintance...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

SEC and Department of Justice Announce Parallel Crypto 'Insider Trading' Charges as Regulators and Congress Wrangle over...

On July 21, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced parallel civil and criminal actions against a former product manager at Coinbase...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

Cryptocurrency “Insider Trading” takes center stage

On July 21, 2022, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment charging Ishan Wahi (Wahi), a former product manager at a large cryptocurrency trading platform (the Platform) - along with his brother Nikhil Wahi...more

Barnea Jaffa Lande & Co.

First US Indictment for NFT Insider Trading Offenses

A few days ago, the SEC has charged a former employee of OpenSea (the largest NFT marketplace) In the first-ever digital asset indictment. SEC charged him with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to...more

Cranfill Sumner LLP

Department of Justice Takes Historic Step in Charging Former NFT Insider for Wire Fraud and Money Laundering in Connection with...

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A product manager at OpenSea, a $13 billion online marketplace for non-fungible-tokens (“NFTs”), was indicted in the first-ever “insider-trading” action brought against a person using blockchain-based assets to allegedly...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

‘Insider Trading’ and NFTs: What Should Companies Be Doing?

The recent indictment of an employee of OpenSea, a prominent NFT marketplace, highlights the risk of trading digital assets based on the improper use of confidential information, even where the digital asset is not a...more

Seward & Kissel LLP

Former OpenSea Employee Charged with Insider Trading in NFTs; Could This be a “One-Off” or Sign of Future Actions?

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On June 1, 2022, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the indictment of former OpenSea employee Nathaniel Chastain for an NFT “insider trading” scheme. From at least June to...more

Polsinelli

Former OpenSea Employee Charged with Wire Fraud and Money Laundering in First Ever “Digital Asset Insider Trading” Scheme

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A former employee of OpenSea, the largest marketplace for the purchase and sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has been indicted and charged with wire fraud and money laundering allegedly in connection with actions he took...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

DOJ brings first-ever NFT “insider trading” case

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has announced the unsealing of a first-of-its-kind indictment involving a digital asset “insider trading” scheme. The indictment charges Nathaniel...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

SDNY U.S. Attorney's Office Charges First-Ever Digital Asset Insider Trading Scheme

Reaffirming DOJ’s focus on digital assets, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York today charged a defendant, for the first time ever, with insider trading in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). ...more

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