Crypto Founder Extradited: US Charges Market Manipulation, Wire Fraud

The founder of Gotbit, a crypto hedge fund and market maker, has been extradited to the US to face charges of market manipulation and wire fraud conspiracy. Aleksei Andriunin, a 26-year-old Russian national, was arrested in Portugal on Oct. 8 and subsequently extradited to the US on Oct. 25. He appeared in a federal court in Boston on Feb. 26, where he was ordered to remain detained until further notice.

Andriunin and two other Gotbit directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, were indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 31. The indictment alleges that Gotbit carried out market maker services by implementing software that facilitated wash trading to artificially inflate trading volumes for its clients. This was done to secure crypto token listings on market aggregators like CoinMarketCap and trading on exchanges.

Kedrov and Jalili were accused of marketing these wash trading tactics to prospective clients. US authorities allege that Gotbit received tens of millions of dollars in proceeds in connection with these services between 2018 and 2024. Andriunin is also accused of transferring a portion of these proceeds into his personal Binance account.

If convicted, Andriunin faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, restitution, and forfeiture. The charge of conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a fraud suit against Gotbit and Kedrov in October. The case highlights the growing concern over market manipulation and fraud in the crypto industry, and the increasing efforts by authorities to crack down on such activities.