"Russian Crypto Founder Extradited to US: Faces 25 Years for Alleged $50M Fraud"

Aleksei Andriunin, the 26-year-old Russian founder of cryptocurrency firm Gotbit, has been extradited to the United States to face serious fraud charges. Andriunin appeared in federal court in Boston on February 25, 2025, after being arrested in Portugal last October.

The US Department of Justice announced the extradition in a press release on February 26. Andriunin faces charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. These charges carry a combined maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

A Boston federal grand jury also indicted Gotbit as a company. Two other Gotbit directors were named in the indictment. They are Fedor Kedrov, Gotbit’s Director of Market Making, and Qawi Jalili, the company’s Director of Sales.

Prosecutors claim that between 2018 and 2024, Gotbit operated as a “market maker” that provided market manipulation services. The company allegedly helped create fake trading volume for multiple cryptocurrency companies. Some of these client companies were based in the United States.

The indictment describes how Gotbit developed code for “wash trading.” This practice artificially inflates trading volumes of cryptocurrencies. The goal was to get these tokens listed on CoinMarketCap, a website that tracks trending cryptocurrencies.

Getting listed on CoinMarketCap could help tokens trade on larger cryptocurrency exchanges. This increased visibility and trading access could potentially raise token prices and benefit token creators.

Andriunin was not secretive about Gotbit’s services. In a 2019 interview with CoinDesk, he openly admitted his business was “not entirely ethical.” This interview is referenced in the DOJ’s announcement.

Court documents allege that Gotbit marketed these wash trading tactics to potential clients. The company reportedly explained how it used multiple accounts to avoid detection of wash trades on public blockchains.

The scale of the alleged fraud appears to be large. According to prosecutors, Gotbit made wash trades worth millions of dollars for its clients. The company allegedly received “tens of millions of dollars in proceeds” from these fraudulent services.

Andriunin himself is accused of transferring millions of dollars from Gotbit’s business proceeds into his personal