A federal judge presiding over Avraham Eisenberg’s criminal case has reportedly scheduled a hearing for February 14.
Lawyers for a cryptocurrency user accused of stealing $116 million from decentralised exchange Mango Markets have agreed to custody in a criminal case including commodities fraud, commodities market manipulation, and wire fraud.
According to social media accounts, Mango Markets user Avraham Eisenberg’s legal team waived his right to bail at a hearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 2. Federal Judge Richard Berman, who will preside over the criminal case, is said to have set a follow-up court date for Feb. 14, implying that Eisenberg could be detained until at least Valentine’s Day.
Eisenberg was allegedly behind a major Mango Markets exploit in October, withdrawing approximately $50 million in USD Coin, $27 million in Marinade Staked SOL (mSOL), $24 million in Solana, and $15 million in MNGO — a total of approximately $116 million. Following the exploit, the platform reported that approximately $67 million in funds had been returned.
The crypto user stated publicly that he believed his actions were legal because they were part of a “highly profitable trading strategy.” Authorities in the United States disagreed, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and others announcing similar accusations relating to fraud and market manipulation in December and January.
Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico in December on the basis of a criminal complaint. According to the indictment, he “engaged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain approximately $110 million worth of cryptocurrency from the cryptocurrency exchange Mango Markets and its customers, and accomplished this goal by artificially manipulating the price of certain perpetual futures contracts.”
Eisenberg made his first appearance in New York court on February 2 after being transferred from Puerto Rico via Oklahoma.
