The trial of alleged Mango Markets operator Avraham Eisenberg, originally scheduled for December 4 this year, has been postponed until April 8, 2024, court documents show show.
Eisenberg’s lawyers asked for a delay after their client was “unexpectedly” transferred from his New Jersey prison to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn – the same prison where Sam Bankman-Fried has been held since his bail was revoked in August.
Eisenberg’s attorneys also argued that they need more time to prepare a defense because of the “complex and novel legal and factual issues” and the “voluminous” amount of discovery being made by the government. In opposing the motion, prosecutors argued, “Defendant committed the offenses charged alone, on one day, through a separate series of financial transactions,” and that the defense had sufficient time to prepare.
“Very profitable trading strategy”
Eisenberg has been sued by the Department of Justice, the SEC and the CFTC in connection with his alleged $116 million operation of Mango Markets. claimed at the time was simply a ‘highly profitable trading strategy’.
“I believe that all of our actions were legal open market actions, using the protocol as designed, even if the development team did not fully anticipate all the consequences of setting parameters as they are,” he said.
The wire fraud charges carry prison sentences of up to 20 years.