Wire Fraud Litigants Beware: Fourth Circuit Ruling Protects the Banks — The Consumer Finance Podcast
Crypto & Politics: Insights from Former Congressman David McIntosh
Mail and Wire Fraud Claims - RICO Report Podcast
Wire Fraud Scams: What You Need to Know - The Consumer Finance Podcast
Anatomy of a Successful Motion to Dismiss in RICO Case
Phishing: Cybersecurity’s Biggest Threat
Law Brief®: The Theranos Trial
Digging Deeper, Episode 1: The Con Queen of Hollywood
Overview - A split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in United States v. Chastain (No. 23-7038), recently voted 2-1 to vacate convictions for wire fraud and money laundering because of improper jury...more
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
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
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
The Second Circuit has narrowed the wire fraud statute (18 U.S.C. § 1343), ruling that a fraudulent scheme must target property with actual commercial value to the victim; mere confidential business information...more
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
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
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
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
Crypto Exchanges Launch Institutional Platform, LATAM Stablecoin - A major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange recently announced the launch of an institutional platform “aimed at institutions, asset managers, hedge funds and...more
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
In late October, a New York district court refused to dismiss the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) indictment against defendant Nathaniel Chastain, who was charged with wire fraud and money laundering relating to his using...more
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York recently charged two individuals for allegedly participating in a scheme to defraud purchasers of “Frosties” non-fungible tokens (or “NFTs”) out of over $1...more
On March 24, 2022, the U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged two individuals for their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud purchasers of non-fungible tokens (or “NFTs”) known as...more