Mango Markets Case: Fraud Charges Against Avraham Eisenberg Annulled

In the latest development within the $110 million Mango Markets case, a US federal judge has set aside fraud and manipulation convictions against Avraham Eisenberg, the alleged hacker. In a Friday ruling, US District Judge Arun Subramanian confirmed that the trial evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict.

Judge Vacates Fraud Charges in Mango Markets Case

Judge Arun Subramanian overturned Eisenberg’s convictions for commodities fraud and market manipulation, also acquitting him of a third charge. The judge ruled in favor of Eisenberg as the evidence failed to prove claims of his false representations to Mango Markets. Highlighting the platform’s decentralized ecosystem, the judge added,

“Mango Markets was permissionless and automatic…There was insufficient evidence of falsity.”

Notably, this ruling comes after Eisenberg received a 4-year prison sentence in a separate case. He reportedly pleaded guilty to possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). As part of a separate charge that emerged from evidence discovered at the time of his arrest in the Mango Markets case, he admitted that he possessed more than 1,200 images and videos of child pornography.

Eisenberg Convicted of Mango Markets Manipulation

In 2024, Avraham Eisenberg was found guilty of manipulating Mango Markets’ MNGO token price, which surged over 1,300% in minutes. As per reports, Eisenberg then leveraged the gains to drain $110 million in crypto assets.

After he was arrested by the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against him on similar charges. While the Justice Department claimed Eisenberg deceived the platform’s lending system, his defense argued he exploited flawed code without making false statements.

The court’s Mango Markets case ruling comes on the heels of Binance seeking to dismiss a $1.76 billion lawsuit filed by the FTX estate.

Will the US Government Re-file Vacated Charges?

Though the prosecutors argued for a case hearing in New York, the judge dismissed it, finding no significant ties to the alleged crime in the state.

Despite this notable victory in the Mango Markets case, Avraham Eisenberg still faces civil suits from both the SEC and CFTC. It is also unclear if the US government would refile the vacated charges.

However, considering the Trump administration’s lessened focus on crypto lawsuits, Eisenberg is less likely to face renewed charges. For instance, the US SEC, after its restructuring, dismissed multiple crypto lawsuits, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple.