Ex-manager of NFT sales platform asks to suspend court case on disclosure of confidential information

In early June, the Manhattan prosecutor’s office indicted former OpenSea top executive Nathaniel Chastain. According to the prosecutor’s office, he is accused of «wire fraud and money laundering as part of an insider trading scheme.»

The agency claims that Chastain knew in advance about the appearance of tokens on the OpenSea home page, buying them before publication. Afterwards, he sold them several times more expensive, and used several anonymous wallets and accounts for the transactions. Chastain kept the proceeds from the transactions on his personal cryptocurrency wallet.

Despite the accusations, Chastain’s lawyers demanded that the case be dismissed for lack of corpus delicti. on August 19, the lawyers and the suspect filed a motion with the court.

«Mr. Chastain is alleged to have acted with criminal intent. Having information about the listing, he bought NFTs before the announcement and then sold them at a profit. But the problem is that tokens are not commodities or derivatives. So, there could be no insider trading,» the motion says.

If the trial of Chastain does take place, the US Department of Justice will gain leverage over NFT owners and significantly expand the SEC’s (Securities and Exchange Commission) powers over digital assets.