Aleksei Andriunin, founder of crypto market maker Gotbit, was indicted by the US Department of Justice on Thursday.
The 26-year-old faces charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate cryptocurrency markets. Federal authorities allege that Gotbit, under Andriunin’s leadership from 2018 to 2024, engaged in schemes to inflate trading volumes for several cryptocurrency companies, including some in the United States.
The recent Justice Department indictment also names Gotbit directors Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili. They had already been charged in October as part of a broader investigation. This investigation involved multiple crypto companies, resulting in four arrests, guilty pleas from five people, and the seizure of $25 million in crypto assets.
If convicted, Andriunin faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for wire fraud, plus five years for conspiracy.
This case marks the continued crackdown by US authorities against financial misconduct in the crypto sector. Just yesterday, the US Department of Justice announced the guilty plea of Liu Zhou, founder of crypto market making company MyTrade, to charges related to market manipulation.
Zhou, 39, admitted to engaging in “wash trading” – the practice of artificially inflating asset prices by simultaneously executing buy and sell orders to create the illusion of high trading volume . His sentencing is scheduled for early next year.
Zhou’s operation, known as MyTrade MM, allegedly misled customers by executing personal trades and setting up “pump and dump” schemes, manipulating token prices and misleading buyers into error by encouraging them to invest at inflated values. Zhou reportedly said the company’s goal was to “locate other buyers in the community” and take advantage of unsuspecting investors.
This case is part of a broader DOJ crackdown on crypto market manipulation, with other companies like CLS Global and ZM Quant also accused of inflating token volumes. These companies allegedly engaged in similar practices, making the tokens appear more active and valuable than they actually were, often selling them at inflated prices to outside investors.
One of the accused companies, CLS Global, responded by contacting U.S. authorities and saying it planned to improve its processes. Filipp Veselov, CEO of CLS Global, said: “We recognize that there may be areas where we can improve our processes, and we are open to constructive dialogue with regulators. » The company added that it was actively working to restrict engagement with US customers.
The SEC also accused Sigma Chain, a trading company owned and controlled by Binance founder CZ, in 2023 of engaging in wash trading on the platform of its US-based subsidiary. This involved artificially inflating the trading volume of crypto asset securities, creating a misleading perception of market activity to give a false sense of liquidity on Binance.US.
