OpenSea staffer charged with insider-trading of NFTs

A now-former product boss at a top NFT marketplace was arrested and charged with wire fraud and money laundering in the first-ever insider-trading case involving the digital tokens. Nathaniel Chastain, 31, was employed at OpenSea, the largest online bazaar of its kind, from January to September 2021. OpenSea is essentially a …

[druck]

It's turtlesfraud all the way down.

[Sampler]

Given the anonymity, if he hadn't transferred the funds back to his own account (on a publicly viewable audit trail..) he could've gotten away with it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, good thing he used untraceable crypto and not a brown paper bag full of cash

[Pascal Monett]

Not a bad argument. Indeed, he should have just kept the money in those accounts to use it later. Buy a car from one account, a new house from another, etc.

As usual, it's greed that is their downfall.

Greed makes you stupid.

[TeeCee]

I prefer to think that he would have got away with it, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.

[Anonymous Coward]

Web3

That name needs to die.

[DS999]

Is there anyone

In the NFT industry that isn't grifting?

[imanidiot]

Very original...

"Chastain resigned from his position as head of product after his employers discovered he was secretly purchasing, using anonymous accounts, numerous NFTs of cartoon images and artwork knowing the content was about to be featured on OpenSea's marketplace, it is claimed."

Ahhh, exactly like how the rest of the modern art trade works then?

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Very original...

Except in this case the buyers were merely gullible idiots and not crooks laundering money or paying off a drug/arms deal

[Ian 55]

That tweet..

.. is how OpenSea "discovered" that the person who was picking which URLs - sorry, NFTs - the site would feature was buying them first.

Either they had no monitoring in place, or they knew and didn't care until someone outside noticed.

[Bachelorette]

Re: That tweet..

OpenSea already has no role in "recommending" or "promoting" specific NFTs anyways. It's their way of admitting that most NFTs on their platform are shit and you really need to brush the turds aside to find the real gems. NFTs are art and art is subjective and an auction house should not be steering people to specific pieces of art.

[Androgynous Cow Herd]

Re: That tweet..

No, NFTs are NOT art...they are contacts of dubious value associated with art useful for money laundering

[Doctor Syntax]

The think I find puzzling about this is that it was only one individual's insider trading that was considered wire fraud.

[Falmari]

@Doctor Syntax it is puzzling to me as well.

Seems to me everything is wire fraud in the US, be it insider trading or any other type of fraud. If they can find a wire somewhere, not difficult in todays age (email, electronic banking, etc.), then its wire fraud.

I assume the reason for slapping wire fraud on everything is because wire fraud carries a much high penalty than just plain old fraud, insider trading etc.

[MJB7]

Wire fraud

_Most_ criminal offences (theft, murder, etc), including vanilla "fraud", are offences against individual states. "Wire fraud" is unusual in that it is a federal offence (an offence against the USA), and so within the FBI's purview.

[Anonymous Coward]

FBI hookers and blow

Good now when does Lana Roads get caught for her 750000 rugpull ?

Oh wait Female Body Investors won't in a million years cuz dey pimpin ...

[Anonymous Coward]

"we initiated an investigation and ultimately asked him to leave the company."

Was it a request?

I would think a more suitable response would be "we initiated an investigation and ultimately terminated his employment and notified the authorities. We will continue to cooperate with the police on this matter."