Nathaniel Chastain, the former executive of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, has decided to serve his three-month prison sentence for insider trading. He withdrew his bail application while the appeal process was ongoing. Chastain has also been sentenced to pay a $50,000 fine and have his illicitly gained crypto assets confiscated. The prosecution continues to bring bad news for Nathaniel Chastain, who is accused of gaining illicit profits by abusing his authority on OpenSea.
Withdrawal of Bail Application
A former manager of the NFT marketplace OpenSea, who was sentenced to three months in prison for insider trading, has decided to withdraw his bail application and serve his sentence while the appeal process continues. On September 6, Nathaniel Chastain’s lawyers sent a letter to the New York District Court informing them of Chastain’s decision to withdraw his bail application during the appeal process.
According to the previous court decision, Chastain will surrender by November 2 and begin serving his sentence while the appeal process continues. Chastain, a former product manager at OpenSea, was convicted of wire fraud and money laundering on May 3 and sentenced to three months in prison for insider trading on the NFT platform on August 22.
Shocking Allegations
In addition, Chastain has been ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and have the crypto assets he illicitly gained through trading on OpenSea confiscated. Chastain had control over which NFTs and collections appeared on OpenSea’s homepage and allegedly used this authority to significantly increase the visibility of the NFT collections he gained profits from, which likely affected their prices.
It is alleged that Chastain purchased 45 NFT collections on OpenSea before they were displayed on the homepage and then resold them for profit when their prices increased. Prosecution attorney Allison Nichols argued that Chastain knew he was breaking the law by using anonymous OpenSea accounts for trading.
