Former head of product of NFT platform OpenSea arrested on fraud and money laundering charges.
Nathaniel Chastain, former head of product for OpenSea, was arrested in New York. Chastain was previously accused of using secret Ethereum wallets to purchase NFT. According to the indictment, he was accused of being responsible for choosing which NFTs would appear on Chastain’s OpenSea homepage. According to the Justice Department’s indictment, Chastain sold NFTs for twice to five times the original purchase price after putting them on the homepage. These operations continued from June 2021 to September 2021.
Although this type of activity is prohibited in traditional financial markets, it is unclear how these laws apply to the NFT field.
Law enforcement stresses that these laws will apply the same.
Attorney Damian Williams said:
“Although NFTs are new, they do not feature a crime plan.
Allegedly, Nathaniel Chastain betrayed OpenSea by using confidential business information to make money”
FBI Deputy Chief Executive Michael J. Driscoll told the FBI to “manipulate the market”. said that their aggressive stance against the actors who chose it will continue”
OpenSea published a blog post acknowledging Chastain’s actions following the accusations in September of last year.
