UNITED STATES: Police in the United States (U.S.A. or USA) has arrested two Indian brothers and an Indian-American friend in connection with the first cryptocurrency insider trading scheme, in which they made illegal profits of over a million dollars. Ishan Wahi, 32, and his younger brother, Nikhil Wahi, 26, are Indian legal citizens living in Seattle, while Sameer Ramani, 33, a mutual friend, lives in Houston.
The Wahi brothers were arrested in Seattle on Thursday morning and are due to be presented in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) announced that Mr. Ramani is believed to be in India at present.
Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office, announced on Thursday that the Wahi brothers and Sameer Ramani would face wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges in connection with an insider trading scheme in cryptocurrency assets using confidential Coinbase information about which assets were scheduled to be liquidated.
The SEC also announced other insider trading charges against the three men. Prosecutors have mentioned that the three have been charged in the first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme. The defendants made huge illegal gains of around USD 1.5 million from at least 25 crypto assets.
The other two criminals, Nikhil Wahi and Mr. Ramani, have been hit with one count each of both charges, similar to Ishan Wahi, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
