Mango Markets exploiter Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg could be facing over six years in prison, as U.S. prosecutors have pushed for a hefty sentence ahead of his May 1 hearing.
In an April 22 filing, federal prosecutors told New York district court Judge Arun Subramanian that Eisenberg’s 2022 exploit of the Solana-based DeFi platform was not a clever arbitrage but a premeditated attack that defrauded investors of over $100 million.
“Fraud that takes over $100 million from investors and effectively shuts down a business is a shocking violation of criminal law,” the filing stated.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 78 to 97 months, roughly six and a half to eight years, citing both the severity of the fraud and Eisenberg’s separate guilty plea in a child exploitation case. However, they emphasised that the crypto-related offenses alone warrant a substantial prison term.
Eisenberg was convicted in April of wire fraud, commodities fraud, and market manipulation for manipulating the price of Mango’s governance token, MNGO, and using inflated collateral to drain the protocol’s treasury.
Prosecutors allege that he used false identities and disguised his location, opening an FTX account using a Ukrainian woman’s passport and bypassing KYC checks on AscendEx by selecting a no-verification option and masking his IP as being in Poland.
Further, the filing pointed to Discord chats where Eisenberg outlined his plans in advance, describing how he would “buy a ton, massively increase the price, and borrow on lending,” adding that “you don’t need to sell—you can just let the loan stand.”
Although Eisenberg returned around $67 million following a DAO vote, the government said it was under the condition that Mango DAO “waive any potential claims” and refrain from pursuing criminal charges.
“This was not returning funds in any genuine sense of the term,” prosecutors said, framing the move as “a ransom note.”
The filing also touched upon how Eisenberg researched fraud laws before the attack and fled to Israel hours after being identified online. Later, on social media, he publicly defended his actions, claiming the trade was legal, though prosecutors argue he knew otherwise.
“The defendant knew that fraudulent market manipulation is illegal, and that the cryptocurrency space was no exception,” they wrote.
In a separate victim impact statement filed the same day, lawyers representing Mango Markets urged the court to order Eisenberg to pay $47 million in restitution, arguing that the return of misappropriated funds is essential to making the platform’s community whole.
“Although Eisenberg’s attack cannot be undone, return of the funds he misappropriated is critical to righting his wrong,” the filing stated.
Mango Markets shut down in early 2025 following a unanimous community vote, citing the long-term impact of the exploit and ongoing legal fallout.
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