The defense based the majority of the case on a single expert witness. Jeremy Sheridan, a former secret service agent and current cryptocurrency research consultant, discussed the mechanisms that enabled Eisenberg’s transactions and the difficulty of understanding whether his borrowings were genuine borrowings based on the Mango Markets codebase. However, much of Sheridan’s testimony was invalidated by the judge, on the grounds that his knowledge of the Mango Markets code base was insufficient.

The prosecution argued that Eisenberg engaged in market manipulation, buying and selling large amounts of MNGO perpetual futures contracts between himself and himself, driving the price up more than 1,000%. He claimed that he then used the collateral he created to trick the platform into allowing him to withdraw $110 million in various cryptocurrencies through its “borrow” function.

However, the prosecution told the jury that Eisenberg did not owe money, he actually stole. A few hours after the transaction, Eisenberg submitted an anonymous proposal to the Mango Markets decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that contained “bullying.” In the offer, he demanded that he not be prosecuted and the remaining money not be frozen in exchange for returning $67 million of the money he stole.

Eisenberg’s defense team did little to dispute the facts of the case. Instead, Eisenberg’s attorney, Brian Klein, attempted to frame Eisenberg’s massive trades as a “successful and legal trading strategy” executed in “full compliance” with the Mango Markets protocol. Klein emphasized that Mango Markets did not have a Terms of Use at the time Eisenberg made the transaction, only a warning to visitors to use the site “at their own risk.” He argued that Eisenberg used the platform as intended and made a lot of money doing so.

“This is how people do things in the crypto world,” Klein told the jury. Klein is a well-known lawyer in the crypto space and has defended the likes of Erik Voorhees, Charlie Shrem, and Virgil Griffith in the past. He currently represents Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.

Before executing the Mango Markets transaction, Eisenberg had sued someone else in federal court for manipulating the price of WAVES. He had also searched online for “statute of limitations for market manipulation” and “fraud elements” before his October 2022 transactions. After the processing and his identity being revealed, Eisenberg bought a flight ticket to Israel and conducted Internet searches for “FBI tracking,” “List of extradited criminals from Israel,” and the Otisville prison where white-collar criminals were held.

Klein told the jury that Eisenberg went to Israel not to escape crimes but because of angry Mango Markets users who threatened him. He also argued that Eisenberg’s fact that he sued both Circle and, symbolically, the Romanian exchange AscendX to get his money back after it was frozen, and that he was willing to return to the United States, was evidence that he did not commit a crime.

The prosecutor’s office said in its reiteration that Eisenberg’s legal attempts to get his money back occurred after his identity was revealed. Eisenberg believes he was absolved of blame because of his offer to Mango Markets’ DAO and subsequent “disclaimer of liability,” which they claimed encouraged him to return to the United States.

“Manipulation, lies, deception - these are crimes, whether on Wall Street or in a computer program,” the prosecutor said. Eisenberg faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts.