Former Coinbase employee received 2 years in prison for insider trading

Insider who pleaded guilty in a case related to cryptocurrency trading on Coinbase. He and his partners made $1.5 million by buying tokens before listing them on the cryptocurrency exchange

Former Coinbase manager Ishaan Wahi was sentenced to two years in prison for insider trading in cryptocurrencies, Reuters reports. The charge against him was filed last July. And last February, he pleaded guilty and was named in court as the first insider. Who pleaded guilty in a case involving cryptocurrency trading.

While working at Coinbase from June 2021 until April 2022, Wahi provided his brother Nikhil and their acquaintance Samir Ramani with confidential information. This information contained data about cryptocurrencies scheduled to be listed on this exchange.

Based on the information received from Ishaan Wahi, Nikhil Wahi and Ramani worked together to trade 55 different crypto-assets shortly before their listing on Coinbase. The scammers were able to make about $1.5 million from this.

Ishan and Nikhil Wahi were arrested on July 21; Samir Ramani was not reported to have been arrested. Nikhil Wahi pleaded guilty last September. And earlier this year, he was sentenced to ten months in prison.

At the May 9 court hearing, Wahi said he made a huge mistake “that will haunt him for the rest of his life.” At the same time, the assistant prosecutor noted that Wahi’s behavior was not a one-time mistake, his actions were committed over the course of ten months at Coinbase.

Our experts note that the prosecutors insisted that the defendant be imprisoned for more than three years. And the defense asked the court to sentence him no harsher than that of Nikhil Wahi. Judge Loretta Preska eventually sentenced Nikhil Wahi to two years in prison. He will now be sent to Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution in New Jersey.