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Joanna Wasick Addresses Guilty Verdict of Former OpenSea Product Manager

News / May 5, 2023

Partner Joanna Wasick was interviewed for the May 5, 2023, edition of Financial Times’ cryptofinance newsletter. Titled “US court provides clarity on crypto rules with OpenSea verdict,” the article focused on a case decided this week involving a former product manager at OpenSea (a marketplace for non-fungible tokens).

Prosecutors had alleged that Nate Chastain bought 45 tokens before they appeared on OpenSea, then sold them at a huge profit once they became available via the NFT marketplace. He was found guilty of fraud and money laundering.

This was a clear-cut case, Wasick told the publication. “A white-collar, presumably well-resourced individual is in the privileged position to access key non-public information. The person takes that information and does with it what the Average Joe cannot – exploits the confidential data to make even more money.

Read the article (subscription required).

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