Federal prosecutors have accused Aleksei Andriunin, the Russian founder of the cryptocurrency company Gotbit, of running a sophisticated market manipulation scheme in effect between 2018 and 2024.
The charges, unsealed in a new indictment, also identify Gotbit directors Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili as co-conspirators in the scheme. The company kept detailed records of its market manipulation activities, including spreadsheets artificially comparing “created volume” to natural “market volume” in cryptocurrency markets, prosecutors said.
The evidence demonstrates that Gotbit openly sought out potential customers with pitches describing exactly how the service would allow them to hide activities on public blockchains through multi-service manipulation. Predictably, the company’s client list included Saitama and Robo Inu coins, which face separate charges in a related pumping and dumping investigation.
The case is part of a broader crackdown on cryptocurrency market manipulation that has already resulted in four arrests and five plea deals. Authorities have seized more than $25 million in cryptocurrency assets linked to the investigation, which involves two other companies, ZM Quant and CLS Global, as well as 15 individuals.
If convicted, Andriunin faces severe penalties: up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines of up to $250,000, or double the profits from the scheme.
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