DOJ gets guilty plea in first crypto insider trading case

Nikhil Wahi, brother of former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ishan Wahi was hired as part of the Coinbase asset listing team in 2020. Coinbase is one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, and Wahi’s job gave him access to confidential information about when certain cryptocurrency assets would be listed on the company’s exchange.

On multiple occasions in 2021 and 2022, the DOJ said Wahi passed along tips regarding which cryptocurrency assets were about to be listed on Coinbase to his brother. Nikhil Wahi then used “anonymous Ethereum blockchain wallets” to acquire the crypto assets before Coinbase publicly announced it was listing the assets, the DOJ said in a press release. After the assets were listed, Nikhil Wahi sold them for profit.

Wahi faces up to 20 years in prison. A sentencing hearing is scheduled before Judge Loretta Preska on Dec. 13. The DOJ said Wahi must also give up the illegal profits he earned in the scheme.

Ishan Wahi was arrested in July and charged with two counts of wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy for his role in allegedly passing along insider tips regarding cryptocurrency assets being listed on Coinbase to his brother and a friend, Sameer Ramani. Ishan Wahi was released on bail in August; his case is pending. Ramani has not been arrested and is still at large, according to court records.

The scheme generated between $1.1 million and $1.5 million in illegal profits, the DOJ and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

The SEC filed a related complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington regarding violations of federal securities law barring insider trading against Ishan Wahi, Nikhil Wahi, and Ramani. The charges, including those against Nikhil Wahi, are still pending, according to court records.