News & Analysis as of

Insider Trading Wire Fraud

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

ArentFox Schiff

Investigations Newsletter: Florida Telemarketer Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for $67 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

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Florida Telemarketer Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison for $67 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme - On December 6, Jose Goyos was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in managing a deceptive telemarketing scheme to...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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Second Circuit Limits Use of Confidential Government Agency Information as Basis for Securities Fraud Prosecutions

On December 27, 2022, the Second Circuit called into question the government’s theory of insider trading of confidential government agency information, potentially undercutting the DOJ’s enforcement of various white-collar...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

Goodwin

Delaware Court of Chancery Clarifies That Fiduciary ‘Duty of Oversight’ Applies to Officers and Extends Fiduciary Duty Claims to...

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In what seems destined to be a landmark Delaware Court of Chancery decision, Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster denied former McDonald’s Executive Vice President and Global Chief People Officer David Fairhurst’s motion to...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Blaszczak II: 2nd Circuit Reverses Course and Overturns Insider Trading Convictions

Key Points - In the wake of the Supreme Court’s “Bridgegate” decision in Kelly v. United States, a divided panel in the 2nd Circuit reversed its prior decision in United States v. Blaszczak, and held that a federal...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Second Circuit Nixes Theory of Insider Trading on Confidential Government Agency Information

On December 27, 2022, in United States v. Blaszczak (“Blaszczak II”), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit called into question what constitutes “property” in cases of securities fraud, wire fraud and theft of...more

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Second Circuit Decision Curtails Title 18 Insider Trading Liability

On December 27, 2022, a divided panel of the Second Circuit issued a majority opinion in United States v. Blaszczak (“Blaszczak II”), reconsidering the contours of Title 18 insider trading liability. While the decision does...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

BakerHostetler

Does the Supreme Court Argument in Ciminelli Foreshadow Further Narrowing of Federal Fraud Statutes?

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In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has narrowed the scope of various federal criminal fraud statutes. For example, in McDonnell v. United States, the Court overturned the honest services fraud conviction of the former...more

Oberheiden P.C.

Financial Crimes Compliance

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Many businesses and businesspeople are exposed to potential legal liability for a wide variety of financial crimes. Minimizing financial crime risk or exposure is critical and requires strict compliance with the state and...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Plea Deal in First-Ever Cryptocurrency Insider Trading Case

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In what the Manhattan federal prosecutors have touted as the first-ever guilty plea in an insider trading case involving cryptocurrency, the brother of a former Coinbase Global, Inc. (Coinbase) product manager pled guilty to...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

McDermott Will & Schulte

Inside Out: Is a Recent Crypto Asset Insider Trading Case a Prelude to More SEC Enforcement Actions?

On July 21, 2022, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil enforcement action alleging that from at least June 2021 to April 2022, the three named defendants orchestrated and perpetrated an insider...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

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