A former senior manager at Huobi, the fourth largest cryptocurrency exchange globally by trading volume, has allegedly made $5 million from illegal trades, according to a report from the Financial Times.
Chen Boliang is being prosecuted in Hong Kong for the alleged trades that he made between February and March of 2020. Boliang reportedly created a retail account in his father’s name and then deposited $20 million of credit into the account. Boliang is accused of making trades with that account, and ultimately pocketing $5 million in gains in the form of the Tether stablecoin.
A company spokesperson said Boliang’s employment was terminated in May 2020, and that the former employee worked in Huobi’s institutional client’s department.
A civil lawsuit filed by Huobi reveals that Boliang provided the retail account with a $20 million credit line directly from the firm, essentially allowing the trades to be placed on margin with all the risk falling on Huobi.
This isn’t the first time a crypto exchange insider has been charged with illegal trading, as OpenSea’s former head of product Nathan Chastain became the first person to be charged with money laundering and wire fraud tied to NFT insider trading earlier this month.
