- Godtbit founder Aleksei Andriunin, was sent to the U.S. to face fraud and market manipulation charges.
- Officials say Gotbit used fake trading to raise token prices and made millions of dollars.
- If guilty, Andriunin could get up to 25 years in jail or large fines. The case is still being investigated.
Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin was extradited from Portugal to stand trial in the U.S. on charges of market manipulation and fraud. Andriunin, 26, is Russian and was nabbed in Portugal last October after being indicted by a Boston federal grand jury.
The authorities claim that his company, Gotbit, provided market manipulation services to cryptocurrency firms, inflating token prices artificially through wash trading. Two other Gotbit directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, have also been charged. Gotbit and Kedrov have been charged with fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Allegations and Possible Sanctions to Gotbit Founder
Prosecutors allege that Gotbit employed software to carry out wash trades, causing trading volumes to be misrepresented to entice more investors and lead to tokens being traded on platforms such as CoinMarketCap. Andriunin is said to have deposited some of the firm’s income into his own Binance account. Gotbit is said to have earned tens of millions of dollars between 2018 and 2024.
Andriunin confessed in an interview in 2019 that his business was “not wholly ethical,” being honest about the nature of his business. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) set up a trap token called NexFundAI (NEXF) in May, and Gotbit and other firms allegedly used it to make sham market trades.
Upon conviction, Gotbit founder can get 20 years of incarceration for wire fraud, as well as another five for conspiracy offenses. Alternatively, he can be given a $250,000 fine or double the amount of funds obtained or lost due to fraud. When extradited, he was arraigned in a Boston court and directed to be detained.
Gotbit founder’s next hearing has not yet been scheduled. The case is still under investigation by the authorities, given market manipulation in the cryptocurrency market is something that could be on the increase in the region.
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