Partner Brian Klein Named AmLaw Litigator of the Week Runner Up for Overturning the Conviction of Avraham Eisenberg

Partner Brian Klein was named “AmLaw Litigator of the Week Runner Up” on May 30, 2025 for securing the dismissal of criminal charges for Avi Eisenberg, who the Department of Justice claimed stole $110 million through fraud and market manipulation on the Mango Markets cryptocurrency platform. On Friday May 23, 2025, the trial court agreed with Waymaker’s arguments in a precedent-setting victory for “code is law” type of defenses. The win came a year after a nine-day trial in April 2024, after which the Waymaker trial team and co-counsel moved for relief under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain the convictions.

Law.com Litigation Daily editor Ross Todd wrote the following:
“Brian Klein of Waymaker helped cryptocurrency investor Avi Eisenberg knock out his conviction on commodities fraud, commodities manipulation and wire fraud charges. After a nine-day trial, federal jurors in Manhattan found Eisenberg guilty of fraudulently obtaining about $110 million worth of cryptocurrency from decentralized crypto exchange Mango Markets and its customers. But last week, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian entered a judgment of acquittal on the wire fraud charge, finding that the exchange “had no rules and no one testified that Mango Markets users understood borrowing to reflect an intent to repay.” The judge vacated the other two convictions based on venue since Eisenberg conducted the underlying trades in Puerto Rico, not New York, where the case was filed.”

The Waymaker trial team included Counsels Ashley Martabano and Riley Smith. Sam Talkin and Noam Greenspan of Talkin, Muccigrosso & Roberts LLP acted as co-counsel.