Crypto firm founder pleads guilty to market manipulation in US

• Published On: 22 March 2025 at 18:47

Aleksei Andriunin, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency market-making firm Gotbit, pleaded guilty on Friday to US charges of market manipulation and wire fraud.

Prosecutors charged Andriunin with orchestrating a scheme to artificially inflate trading volumes for digital tokens on behalf of client companies.

The Russian national and his company pleaded guilty in a federal court in Boston, just weeks after Andriunin, 26, was extradited from Portugal, where he was living before being arrested in October. His prosecution is part of Operation Token Mirrors, a groundbreaking FBI investigation into cryptocurrency fraud that resulted in charges against 15 people and three companies.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a two-year prison sentence for Andriunin when he is sentenced on June 16. Gotbit has also agreed to forfeit about $23 million in cryptocurrency.

Prosecutors claim that Gotbit engaged in "wash trading" between 2018 and 2024, a deceptive practice that creates the appearance of high trading activity to attract investors. Andriunin previously admitted in a 2019 interview that his company created software to execute these bogus trades, assisting digital tokens in obtaining listings on major cryptocurrency exchanges.

Gotbit allegedly engaged in wash trades worth millions of dollars and collected tens of millions of dollars in fees for its services, using cryptocurrencies such as Saitama and Robo Inu. Individuals associated with these digital assets have also been charged by the authorities.