On Monday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed charges against the alleged Mango Markets hacker, Avraham Eisenberg. The agency accuses Eisenberg of manipulating the decentralized exchange and getting away with over $100 million in crypto.
The news comes five days after the United States Justice Department charged the defendant with the last October’s hack. According to CTFC, Eisenberg inflated the value of his swap contract holdings by manipulating Mango Markets prices to borrow crypto that he never intended to repay.
Built on the Solana blockchain network, Mango Markets is a decentralized exchange (DEX) controlled by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) whose membership is represented by holding the Mango Markets native token, MNGO. This token also allows investors to lend and borrow crypto.
The DEX was attacked on October 11, and at that time, Mango Markets tweeted that the hacker had managed to steal approximately $110 million. Eisenberg took to Twitter to admit that he was the mastermind of the attack, and Last month, the justice Department arrested him.
Eisenberg now faces three charges: market manipulation, violating the Commodity Exchange Act, and fraud. Moreover, the CFTC seeks to permanently ban the defendant from trading any digital asset and recover the stolen funds.
Also read:How the Hacker Manipulated Mango Markets Prices
According to CFTC’s filing, the defendant set up two accounts at Mango Markets, funding each with about $4.5 million USDC. Eisenberg then used one account to open an $18 million long position comprising over 350 million MNGO/USDC Swaps at roughly $0.039.
Afterward, Eisenberg used the second account to open an $18 million short position comprising the exact number of MNGO/USDC Swaps as in the first account. In this way, Eisenberg was on both sides of the transaction; therefore, the CFTC classified it as a wash transaction.
Mango Markets DAO Enters a Deal With Hacker to Recover Stolen Funds
Following the attack, Mango Markets DAO offered Eisenberg a promise of not pressing charges and a nearly $45 million bug bounty if he returned $69 million worth of digital assets. The hacker publicly agreed to the terms. However, whether he sent back the assets is still unclear.
While Mango Markets DAO may be forgiving, the law enforcement authorities are not satisfied yet. In the CFTC’s filing, the agency’s attorneys are demanding a trial for Eisenberg and everyone else who might have played a role in the Mango Markets attack.
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