A Solana-based (SOL) decentralized crypto exchange is suing the person behind the alleged $100 million exploit of its network last October.
In a new court filing in the Southern District of New York, Mango Markets accuses Avraham Eisenberg of initiating a “brazen and malicious” attack on its platform.
The exchange claims Eisenberg manipulated the price of its utility token, Mango (MNGO), and then used “fraud and deception” to convert about $114 million from Mango Markets customers into his own accounts.
Eisenberg, who runs a trading firm and describes himself as a “digital art dealer,” went public the week after the incident, claiming he was the brains behind what he described as a “legal” exploit of Mango.
Eisenberg argued he was involved with a trading team that had a highly profitable strategy. The scheme left the decentralized exchange insolvent and users unable to access their funds.
Says Mango Markets in the new court filing,
“In the days following his attack, Defendant schemed to protect his ill-gotten gains through further unlawful means. He forced Mango DAO [decentralized autonomous organization] to enter into an unenforceable settlement agreement – under duress – purporting to release depositors’ claims against him and precluding them from pursuing a criminal investigation.
Following the Mango DAO vote regarding Defendant’s ultimatum, he returned approximately $67 million of the money he unlawfully converted. He retained, and continues to retain, the remainder. Since the attack, Defendant has continued to plot to attack Mango Markets further, in public, and has used the converted funds to attack other cryptocurrency protocols as well.”
Mango Markets is seeking compensatory, incidental, and consequential damages.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed market manipulation charges against Eisenberg. He was also arrested by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Puerto Rico in late December on charges of commodities fraud and manipulation.
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