Appeals court overturns Nate Chastain’s conviction in OpenSea insider trading case
Former OpenSea employee Nathaniel Chastain has successfully appealed his conviction for wire fraud and money laundering.
A US federal appeals court has overturned the conviction of Nathaniel Chastain, a former OpenSea manager found guilty of wire fraud and money laundering for using insider information to trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
In a Thursday decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the jury was improperly instructed and could have convicted Chastain for unethical conduct rather than misappropriating a traditional property interest, a requirement under federal fraud statutes.
“Chastain argues that the district court erred by instructing the jury that it could find him guilty of defrauding OpenSea of its property if he misappropriated an intangible interest unconnected to traditional property rights. He maintains that this error affected the jury’s decision. We agree,” the court decisions reads.
