CFTC Accuses Avraham Eisenberg of Mango Markets Manipulation

On Monday, U.S Commodity Futures Trading Comission CFTC filed a lawsuit against Avraham Eisenberg in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging that he took advantage of Mango Markets' Decentralized Financial Agreement (DeFi). Eisenberg was arrested late last month in Puerto Rico by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and is currently in custody pending trial.

The CFTC says Eisenberg violated the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) by using a "high profit trading strategies" to drain funds from Mango Market, increasing the price of the platform's currency, MNGO, by 13 times in a short period through back-selling, and illegally misappropriating over $110 million. To avoid liability, he agreed to return $67 million of that amount to the platform, but still kept various digital properties worth $47 million in his possession.

The CFTC will file a civil suit against him, seeking monetary penalties, disgorgement of any ill-gotten, and a permanent ban from conducting any trades in the relevant areas.