Mango Markets Exploiter Avraham Eisenberg Wants to Keep $47M as Bounty

Avraham Eisenberg, the 27-year-old Puerto Rico man who made over $100 million by exploiting the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Mango Markets in October 2022, is seeking to keep part of the funds as a bug bounty.

In a court document filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, Eisenberg’s lawyers claimed the exploiter had already returned enough of the funds, referring to the $67 million he gave back to the protocol after the incident and demands to keep the remaining assets to himself.

Lawyers: Eisenberg is Entitled to $47M 

According to the motion, the attorney’s claim follows a settlement proposal from the Mango DAO, which voted to allow Eisenberg to keep the remaining $47 million after returning the $67 million.

96.6% of the voters, representing 473,166 of the community, voted in favor of the proposal against only 3.4%, which set a precedent for the settlement.

Eisenberg later transferred crypto assets worth around $67 million to the community following the agreement. The attorneys disclosed that the case was settled with the vote, and he is now looking to enforce the terms of the deal.

“Weeks later, eligible Mango Markets members received reimbursement from the Mango Markets treasury. At that point, all involved considered this matter closed, and Mr. Eisenberg heard nothing further from Mango Markets,” the lawyers said.

Under Duress 

However, Mango Markets claims it was under duress during the voting period, as the platform lost $116 million of its users’ assets and was looking to recover the money.

In that regard, the DeFi protocol opened an argument in court, which Eisenberg’s lawyers opposed, seeking emergency relief to procure its monetary damages.

Mango sought the court’s assistance to retrieve the $47 million as payment for damages and interests starting from the day of the exploit last year. The protocol also alleged that Eisenberg “was not engaged in lawful bargaining” during the recovery process.

However, Eisenberg’s lawyers refuted the claims, noting that the “improper three-month delay” for Mango filing its suit “undermines any alleged irreparable harm.”

The attorneys also argued that the lawsuit seeks to take advantage of Eisenberg’s December arrest in Puerto Rico by United States authorities.

Earlier this month, Eisenberg was charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for exploiting Mango Markets and using sophisticated software to manipulate its native cryptocurrency, MANGO.

The SEC’s charges come after the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) indicted Eisenberg for violating commodities rules.