The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested and charged former Coinbase product manager Ishan Wahi, Nikhil Wahi (his brother), and Sameer Ramani for insider trading and wire fraud.

The arrest was made on Thursday after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also brought charges of the same insider trading allegations against them. Ishan Wahi had been on law enforcement radar for a long time and U.S. Security officials stopped him from leaving the country to India in May.

The Department of Justice revealed that Ishan Wahi shared censored information about what cryptocurrency assets Coinbase was about to lose with Nikhil Wahi and Sameer Ramani before Coinbase listed the assets.

Ishan Wahi shared information on at least 14 different cryptocurrency asset listings when he was at Coinbase. The defendants then used anonymous crypto wallets and exchange accounts to purchase at least 25 different cryptocurrency tokens using Ishan Wahi’s leaked information.

The trio allegedly made close to $1.5 million although the SEC briefing said the figure was closer to $1.1 Million. According to the briefing, the cryptocurrencies bought and traded include XYO, POWR, ENS, GALA, ALCX, and TRIBE among others.

U. S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Damian Williams noted that this was the second time the Department of Justice had brought forward a case of insider trading. Coinbase itself is not facing any charges as they were also investigating insider trading.

The SEC notably said in its complaint that some of the listed assets like POWR, RLY, DDX, LCX, and AMP were crypto asset securities.

Coinbase followed up the announcement of the arrest and indictment with a strongly-worded statement that they have zero tolerance for the misuse of company information and that they will not hesitate to take action against any employees who are defaulting.

Featured image source: Forbes