SEC charges Eisenberg with price manipulation to steal $116M in crypto from Mango Markets

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday it charged Avraham Eisenberg with price manipulation of the MNGO token through cryptocurrency exchange Mango Markets. The SEC's complaint charged Eisenberg with violating anti-fraud and market manipulation laws. It alleged that Eisenberg stole ~$116M worth of crypto from Mango Markets, effectively draining the platform's available assets. "As we allege, Eisenberg engaged in a manipulative scheme to artificially inflate the price of MNGO token 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,” said David Hirsch, chief, Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. Investigations into other securities law violations are ongoing. Eisenberg, who was arrested in Puerto Rico, is facing parallel criminal and civil charges, brought by the Department of Justice and the CFTC , respectively. Regulatory scrutiny has been ramping up in the crypto space, especially in the aftermath of the FTX collapse, which led to a contagion in the sector that is yet to subsude. Crypto lender Genesis is the latest to file for bankruptcy protection .