The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges Mango Markets Exploiter Avraham Eisenberg for a $116 million exploit.

The SEC stated it charged Avraham Eisenberg with orchestrating an attack on Mango Markets, by manipulating the MNGO token, with investigations into other securities law violations and into other related entities to the exploit ongoing.

The complaint charges Eisenberg for “violating anti-fraud and market manipulation provisions of the securities laws and seeks permanent injunctive relief, a conduct-based injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.” 

Eisenberg allegedly exploited the rising value of his MNGO permanent futures position to borrow and withdraw a total of $116 million worth of crypto assets from Mango Markets, thus depleting all resources on the platform.

David Hirsch, SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit Head stated “Eisenberg engaged in a manipulative and deceptive scheme to artificially inflate the price of the MNGO token, which was purchased and sold as a crypto asset security, in order to borrow and then withdraw nearly all available assets from Mango Markets, which left the platform at a deficit when the security price returned to its pre-manipulation level.”

The Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed concurrent criminal and civil charges against Eisenberg, and he is currently awaiting his court appearance in the Southern District of New York.

Recently, CFTC charged Eisenberg for engaging in a manipulative and deceptive scheme to artificially inflate the price of swaps offered by Mango Markets. Last month, Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico with the FBI charging Eisenberg with one count of commodities fraud and one count of commodities manipulation.