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Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

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Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#361

Post by almost_usual »

devmunchies wrote: post #322
paulpauper wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no way they were going to let him leave the country, no matter when he booked the flight. booking the flight made it easier to arrest him. the meeting was set-up by the feds to arrest him there instead, but he thought that leaving the country would work, which it obv. didn't.

> There was no way they were going to let him leave the country, no matter when he booked the flight whatever his friend did is working so far. still at large.

They lived in Houston, probably drove to Mexico.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#362

Post by mannykannot »

hailwren wrote: post #359
InefficientRed wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Suspects are often arrested on a subset of the criminal charges with which they will ultimately be indicted. Even in more serious crimes like mass shootings, prosecutors will press charges on only a few of the homicide counts at first. This is common practice for prosecutors.

Well, when they indict on the remaining 18 then we can update our models. Until then, the SEC is only alleging that 7 were securities.

True, but your model should already reflect the fact that this is a not an uncommon pattern.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#363

Post by scottiebarnes »

subsaharancoder wrote: post #353
paulpauper wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how they already had tabs on this guy and just waited for him to leave but without arresting him sooner if you think you broke the law and want to avoid arrest, stay away from the airport. anyone who buys a ticket they get your full info and then the arrest is as easy as picking you up at the gate, nowhere to hide.

India has an extradition treaty with the U.S. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/12873-India... sooner or later he'd be back in an orange jump suit

Question is how hard the Indian government would be willing to work to arrest and extradite him.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#364

Post by Spooky23 »

Solvitieg wrote: post #237
Spooky23 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase is an awful company. I signed up for a debit card for some reason, and it immediately became a fraud target. Someone tried to use it at a restaurant in South Africa, a store in Singapore and a mobile provider in Moldova. The card was obviously compromised, and the only reason I didn’t lose money is that I didn’t make any available. So called, emailed, texted Coinbase on 5 different occasions and they never d…

Sounds like one of your accounts has compromised. Perhaps your email address?

The particular compromise attempt in South Africa was reported on lots of Internet forums.

My assumption is that Coinbase or their card provider was breached. That happens and I get it, but the lack of action (the card is still active!) in response to repeated customer inquiry is evidence of a broken process.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#365

Post by ETH_start »

SilasX wrote: post #338
tromp wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Uniswap doesn't allow people to buy crypto currency with fiat. It only exchanges between various crypto currencies. There will always be a need for fiat-crypto exchanges like Coinbase, that are centralized by necessity.

Sure, but that role could be truncated to "convert between financial system currencies and stablecoins" while DeFi handles all the other work of an exchange, displacing centralized exchanges. And even that role might be obviated once enough people transact directly in the stablecoins. (Not necessarily saying it's likely, just delineating the hypothetical word where DeFi has maximally taken over.)

>>Sure, but that role could be truncated to "convert between financial system currencies and stablecoins"

Coinbase has already started doing that, by abolishing the distinction between the stablecoin, USDC, and its bank deposit USD.

It's entirely plausible that other financial institutions, beyond commpanies like Coinbase which are heavily involvd in the cryptocurrency market, begin doing that as stablecoins gain wider credibility and adoption.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#366

Post by ZephyrBlu »

biometry-woof wrote: post #55
romellem wrote: post #16

Wow, the indictment references [this tweet][1] that caused Coinbase to investigate the matter and ultimately led the defendant in being caught at the airport before trying to leave the country. > On May 11, 2022, Coinbase’s director of security operations emailed ISHAN WAHI to inform him that he should appear for an in-person meeting relating to Coinbase’s asset listing process at Coinbase’s Seattle, Washington offic…

The irony here is that the linked Twitter account made his money by coordinating pump and dumps back in the day, before he rebranded into this entity.

Cobie used to co-ordinate pump and dumps?

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#367

Post by InefficientRed »

hailwren wrote: post #359
InefficientRed wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Suspects are often arrested on a subset of the criminal charges with which they will ultimately be indicted. Even in more serious crimes like mass shootings, prosecutors will press charges on only a few of the homicide counts at first. This is common practice for prosecutors.

Well, when they indict on the remaining 18 then we can update our models. Until then, the SEC is only alleging that 7 were securities.

That's a horrible prior.

This isn't about the SEC at all. Arresting on a subset of eventual charges is something that nearly all prosecutors do, and for a large set of very good strategic reasons.

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many examples of high-profile cases where the original arrest was based on all possible charges.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#368

Post by patchtopic »

subsaharancoder wrote: post #353
paulpauper wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how they already had tabs on this guy and just waited for him to leave but without arresting him sooner if you think you broke the law and want to avoid arrest, stay away from the airport. anyone who buys a ticket they get your full info and then the arrest is as easy as picking you up at the gate, nowhere to hide.

India has an extradition treaty with the U.S. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/12873-India... sooner or later he'd be back in an orange jump suit

..and with Australia, but one alleged criminal has been gaming the system after fleeing Australia to India for 14 years now:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22puneet+puneet%22

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#369

Post by dleavitt »

astrange wrote: post #358
modeless wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe the SEC considers all of them securities but thought that they had the strongest case for these seven and didn't want the distraction of arguing about the other 18. But yeah, would be interesting to see the list.

If SEC considers any of them securities, it's very strange for them to go after a single guy at Coinbase and not the entire company, since they've just declared them an illegal securities exchange. (As opposed to an illegal commodities exchange for bitcoin.)

I think maybe it's only strange if you assume the SEC has unlimited money and time. Grandparent comment says it better, but they're likely focusing on cases they think are pretty clear-cut.

Re: Former Coinbase PM charged in cryptocurrency insider trading tipping scheme

#370

Post by csomar »

subsaharancoder wrote: post #353
paulpauper wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing how they already had tabs on this guy and just waited for him to leave but without arresting him sooner if you think you broke the law and want to avoid arrest, stay away from the airport. anyone who buys a ticket they get your full info and then the arrest is as easy as picking you up at the gate, nowhere to hide.

India has an extradition treaty with the U.S. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/12873-India... sooner or later he'd be back in an orange jump suit

Extradition is 10 order of magnitude harder, even for the US legal system. Plus, he'll have enough time to figure out another country where extraditing him is just not worth it anymore.
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