Mango Markets hacker arrested on fraud charges

The hacker behind the Mango Markets decentralized exchange exploit that caused $110 million in damages has been arrested in Puerto Rico on charges of market manipulation and fraud. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) accused Abraham Eisenberg of knowingly and intentionally participating in a scheme involving artificially manipulating the price of perpetual futures contracts on the Mango Markets cryptocurrency exchange. Eisenberg previously publicly admitted to attacking the Mango cryptocurrency exchange, saying he was involved in a team that was “using a high-yield trading strategy.”. He said that he believed all of his actions were “legitimate actions on the open market”. However, the FBI adheres to a different legal assessment of Eisenberg's actions.. FBI Special Agent Brandon Racz said Eisenberg knew his actions were illegal because the day after the Mango Markets exploit, Eisenberg flew from the United States to Israel. “This was an attempt to avoid being caught by law enforcement immediately after the market manipulation scheme was discovered,” he said. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Eisenberg was arrested on December 26 in Puerto Rico. In November, Eisenberg attempted to replicate his “high-yield trading strategy,” this time by attacking decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Aave.. However, the plan failed.. As a result of the price manipulation maneuver, he lost millions of US dollars, as the price actually rose during the attack, resulting in losses due to a significant short position.