The U.S. Prosecutors Seek to Sentence Mango Markets Attacker to Eight Years in Prison

BlockBeats News, April 24th. According to TheBlock, on Tuesday, U.S. prosecutors submitted a sentencing memorandum to a district judge, requesting a sentence of 78 to 97 months of imprisonment for Mango Markets attacker Avi Eisenberg. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 1st. Eisenberg was accused of carrying out a manipulative attack on the DeFi platform Mango Markets in 2022, illicitly profiting $1.1 billion. Following a review of his electronic devices, law enforcement also added charges of possession and viewing of illicit material involving minors.

The sentencing memorandum shows that Eisenberg conducted extensive MNGO perpetual contract trades through two accounts under his control and used fake accounts on FTX, AscendEx, and Serum to artificially inflate the price of MNGO. When the settlement price of his MNGO perpetual contract long positions surged, Eisenberg used the inflated account value to borrow significant amounts of cryptocurrency from the platform, then dumped MNGO to drive its price down. This caused a further increase in the value of his perpetual contract short positions, allowing him to borrow more cryptocurrency from Mango without the intention to repay. This operation resulted in the depletion of Mango Markets' depositors' assets, leaving the platform insolvent, and it continued to operate until earlier this year when it announced its closure.