Sotheby's Vice Chairman Michael Bouhanna has come under scrutiny following allegations that he engaged in insider trading in the cryptocurrency market.
According to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain, Bouhanna allegedly launched a memecoin called BAN using his personal wallet and made over $1 million in profits.
The controversy revolves around Bouhanna’s wallet address “5W7U…b3cV,” which Lookonchain identified as the distributor of the BAN token. While Bouhanna reportedly claimed the wallet as his own in a now-deleted post, analysts have traced multiple transactions that suggest insider trading. Lookonchain discovered that Bouhanna initially purchased various memecoins but made little to no financial gain.
However, using the wallet “5W7U…b3cV,” Bouhanna launched the BAN token and made significant profits. The wallet in question allegedly earned over $1 million through strategic purchases and sales of BAN.
Lookonchain’s report noted that the wallet received funds from another address named “EwVB…mD2,” which also traded various memecoins without any notable success. On October 22, “EwVB…mD2” was reported to have traded more than 10 different memecoins on the Pump.fun trading platform. This led to speculation that Bouhanna launched the BAN token as a strategic move to profit from insider trading and market control.
Despite facing public backlash, Bouhanna attempted to alleviate the controversy by burning all 37.36 million BAN tokens in his wallet. However, Lookonchain alleges that Bouhanna used an alternative insider wallet to continue trading BAN, resulting in a total profit of over $1 million.
Lookonchain reported that an additional wallet named “3wj7…yBoG” was also funded by “EwVB…mD2” and is suspected to be connected to Bouhanna. Using the minimum investment, Bouhanna spent 10.2 SOL (approximately $1,795) to purchase 36.27 million BAN tokens. He later sold half of his holdings (18.13 million BAN) for $137,600, keeping the remaining 18.13 million BAN, worth approximately $900,000.
*This is not investment advice.