The defense of the former product head of OpenSea was rejected by the judge, and he will continue to face charges of wire fraud and money laundering

ChainCatcher news, facing charges of wire fraud and money laundering, former OpenSea product head Nate Chastain argued that he did not commit wire fraud because it requires "the existence of a securities or commodities transaction," which currently does not include NFTs. Regarding money laundering, he claimed that the government "is trying to criminalize mere flows of funds" and has not sufficiently proven the financial transaction elements of the money laundering charges. The judge denied his motion and will continue to move forward with the review.

It is reported that Chastain was responsible for deciding which NFTs would appear on the Opensea homepage. With this power, the indictment alleges that he purchased certain NFTs before they appeared and then sold them for profit after their value increased. Additionally, OpenSea decided last month to no longer work with Chastain after learning of the investigation and is seeking a third party to conduct a thorough review of the events. (Decrypt)