Prosecutors want to claim NFTs as securities, says legal team of former OpenSea employee
"Government immediately prosecuted using ill-founded applications of criminal law to set precedent in digital assets", said Nathaniel Chastain. lawyers.
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Lawyers representing Nathaniel Chastain, the former OpenSea chief product officer charged with insider trading, say US authorities only filed suit in an attempt to set legal precedent that non-fungible tokens (NFT) are securities.
In a Friday filing in court for the Southern District of New York, Chastain's legal team at Greenberg Traurig filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against him, which included allegations of wire fraud and money laundering charges related to an NFT insider trading scheme from June to September 2021. Lawyers argued that the charges against the former OpenSea employee were invalid in part "because the NFTs at issue do not are neither securities nor commodities" and that the tokens were not legally considered property of the platform.
"The government has taken immediate action using ill-founded applications of criminal law to set a precedent in the area of digital assets," Chastain's legal team said. "While seeking to use this first-of-its-kind lawsuit to broadly assert insider trading, asset theft and money laundering, the government's arguments run counter to years of established precedent and constitute an effort transparent to plant a flag in the blockchain industry."
Prosecutors charged Chastain with insider trading in June, alleging he used his position and inside information at OpenSea to buy 45 NFTs before they were featured on the marketplace's website . He reportedly used anonymous hot wallets and accounts, later selling the NFTs for a profit. Not writing about Chastain by name, OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer confirmed...
"Government immediately prosecuted using ill-founded applications of criminal law to set precedent in digital assets", said Nathaniel Chastain. lawyers.
Follow
Lawyers representing Nathaniel Chastain, the former OpenSea chief product officer charged with insider trading, say US authorities only filed suit in an attempt to set legal precedent that non-fungible tokens (NFT) are securities.
In a Friday filing in court for the Southern District of New York, Chastain's legal team at Greenberg Traurig filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against him, which included allegations of wire fraud and money laundering charges related to an NFT insider trading scheme from June to September 2021. Lawyers argued that the charges against the former OpenSea employee were invalid in part "because the NFTs at issue do not are neither securities nor commodities" and that the tokens were not legally considered property of the platform.
"The government has taken immediate action using ill-founded applications of criminal law to set a precedent in the area of digital assets," Chastain's legal team said. "While seeking to use this first-of-its-kind lawsuit to broadly assert insider trading, asset theft and money laundering, the government's arguments run counter to years of established precedent and constitute an effort transparent to plant a flag in the blockchain industry."
Prosecutors charged Chastain with insider trading in June, alleging he used his position and inside information at OpenSea to buy 45 NFTs before they were featured on the marketplace's website . He reportedly used anonymous hot wallets and accounts, later selling the NFTs for a profit. Not writing about Chastain by name, OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer confirmed...
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