US authorities have charged and arrested a former product manager at Ozone Networks, Inc. (OpenSea) for wire fraud and money laundering. The 31-year-old New Yorker allegedly committed insider trading in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).
For his personal financial gain, the defendant used confidential information about which NFTs his employer company was going to feature on its homepage. He was responsible for selecting the NFTs that were featured on the OpenSea’s homepage. Being featured on OpenSea’s homepage meant that the NFTs’ prices would rise substantially.
During June-September 2021, the defendant would secretly purchase dozens of NFTs before they were featured on OpenSea’s homepage. Later, he would sell these NFTs at 2- to 5-fold profits. He even used anonymous digital currency wallets and accounts on OpenSea to conduct the illicit sales and purchases.
Source: US Department of Justice
