US indicts 26-year-old Gotbit founder for market manipulation

Federal prosecutors in Boston have indicted Aleksei Andriunin, a 26-year-old Russian citizen and founder of Gotbit, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and market manipulation.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the indictment alleges that Andriunin and his firm participated in a long-running scheme to artificially increase the trading volumes of various cryptocurrency companies, including some based in the United States, to make them appear more popular and increase their trading. value.

Andriunin allegedly directed these activities as Gotbit’s CEO between 2018 and 2024. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, additional fines and asset forfeiture, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Gotbit was one of several firms named in an FBI operation that resulted in the arrest of 18 people accused of manipulating the cryptocurrency market using a fake cryptocurrency called NexFundAI. This operation led to the seizure of $25 million and was aimed at exposing fraudulent trading practices and disabling fake trading bots.

Gotbit and wash trading

Prosecutors say the scheme involved “fake trading,” in which the firm used its software to place fake trades that increased the trading volume of a cryptocurrency.

This practice, called market manipulation, can mislead investors by giving the impression that demand for a particular cryptocurrency is higher than it actually is.

Wash transactions are illegal in traditional finance and are considered fraudulent because they deceive investors and manipulate market behavior.

co-conspirators

Court documents also list two Gotbit executives, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, as accomplices.

The indictment alleges that Gotbit documented these activities with detailed records and tracked differences between real and artificial transaction volumes. The firm allegedly offers these services to potential customers and explains how Gotbit’s tactics will bypass detection on public blockchains, where transactions are transparently recorded.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it seized over $25 million in cryptocurrency assets linked to these schemes and made four arrests across multiple firms.