Huobi’s Former Manager Faces Lawsuit for Illegal Trading

Chen Boliang, a former senior manager at crypto exchange Huobi, has been sued for conducting illicit trading, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Wednesday.

Huobi’s Former Manager Sued for Illegal Trading

Per the report, Boliang, 34, secretly generated several million dollars by trading against an account he managed.

Huobi alleged that Boliang set up a retail trading account in his father’s name, and then extended it to a $20 million credit line before trading against a corporate account he managed. The scheme netted him a profit of $5 million in USDT.

The illicit trading was conducted between February and March 2020 and the accused was arrested in May 2020. He is currently out on bail for $25,000.

The 34-year-old is being charged with “accessing Huobi’s computer systems with criminal or dishonest intent and dealing with the proceeds of a crime.” 

“Mr. Boliang Chen’s employment with Huobi Global was terminated in May 2020. We have no further comments pertaining to the charges against Mr. Boliang Chen and believe in the administration of justice by the HK Special Administrative Region,” Huobi said.

Boliang faces six counts of accessing Huobi’s computer systems and one count related to proceeds of crime.

Not the First

This is not the first time an employee of a crypto firm will be accused of using insider knowledge for personal gains. Earlier this month, a former employee at NFT marketplace OpenSea was charged with fraud and money laundering involving insider trading in non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), the former employee, Nathaniel Chastain, used confidential information about what NFTs were going to be featured on OpenSea for his personal financial gain.