Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit, pleaded guilty to fraud and market manipulation in the United States, accepting a reduced sentence in exchange for a $23 million agreement.
Gotbit offered wash trading services, artificially inflating the volume and price of tokens to facilitate their listing on platforms like CoinMarketCap.
This case is part of a wave of lawsuits against crypto market manipulation, highlighting the authorities’ desire to clean up the sector and restore investor confidence.
Reduced Sentence Deal of $23 Million
Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit, has reached an agreement with the US justice system that includes a maximum prison sentence of 24 months for his involvement in a vast conspiracy to manipulate token prices.
At 26 years old, this Russian national was extradited from Portugal to the United States last month. He pleaded guilty to two charges: electronic fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market. In exchange for a reduced sentence, he agreed to forfeit around $23 million in stablecoins related to his fraudulent activities.
An Enterprise Specialized in Crypto Market Manipulation
According to the October indictment, Gotbit operated as an on-demand market manipulation service. The company offered wash trading services, a technique used to artificially inflate trading volume and token prices to make them more appealing to investors and listing platforms. Despite being widely criticized in the industry, these practices have remained commonplace in the crypto ecosystem.
Andriunin’s involvement in these maneuvers was no secret. As early as 2019, in an interview, he openly admitted that his business was “not entirely ethical.” He explained how Gotbit used trading bots to generate fake volume, a method that allowed certain projects to be listed on CoinMarketCap for a fee of $15,000.
A Wave of Lawsuits Against Crypto Market Manipulation
Gotbit was not an isolated case. Other companies offering similar services were targeted by US authorities in the same case. Companies like CLS Global, MyTrade, and ZMQuant, as well as several of their employees and promoters, were accused of implementing similar fraudulent strategies. This wave of arrests illustrates an increased determination by authorities to tackle the unfair practices in the crypto market, which tarnish the sector’s reputation and undermine investor confidence.
Expected Conviction and Implications for the Industry
While Andriunin initially faced up to 25 years in prison, his cooperation with the justice system and guilty plea allowed him to avoid an exemplary sentence. His final verdict has not yet been delivered, but the recommended 24-month sentence by the prosecutors will send a strong message to other actors in the sector.
