SEC Announces Settlement with the Wahi Brothers
- The SEC announced that both brothers had agreed to disgorge their ill-gotten gains with interest.
- The settlement is subject to court approval.
- Ishan is facing a 2-year jail sentence, while Nikhil is serving a 10-month sentence.
Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase, and his brother, Nikhil Wahi, have reached an agreement to resolve allegations of insider trading brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The brothers were charged with exploiting information about nine cryptocurrency assets that would eventually be listed on Coinbase to make purchases before listing.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against them almost a year ago and announced on Tuesday that both brothers agreed to disgorge their ill-gotten gains with interest. Ishan is reportedly facing a 2-year term, while Nikhil is serving a 10-month sentence. The SEC stated that it will not seek extra penalties since the brothers’ fines from their criminal conviction satisfied the agreements reached in the civil case.
Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Gurbir S. Grewal, said in a statement:
We allege that Ishan and Nikhil Wahi, respectively, tipped and traded securities based on material nonpublic information, and that’s insider trading, pure and simple. The federal securities laws do not exempt crypto asset securities from the prohibition against insider trading, nor does the SEC. I am grateful to the SEC staff for successfully working to resolve this matter.
The settlement wraps up the court case that was to determine if the SEC was correct in claiming that nine of the cryptocurrencies in question were securities. The SEC’s chair, Gary Gensler, has maintained that almost all cryptocurrencies are securities. However, the crypto industry has opposed such claims and wants the SEC to publish official guidelines outlining how a cryptocurrency would be declared a security.
Lawrence has covered some exciting stories in his career as a journalist, he finds blockchain-related stories very intriguing. He believes Web3 will change the world and wants everyone to be a part of it.
