Alekesei Andriunin, founder of crypto market maker Gotbit, has pleaded guilty to market manipulation before a court in Boston. He received a comparatively lenient sentence for this.

The prosecution accuses Andriunin and Gotbit of conspiracy, electronic fraud ("wire fraud") and fraudulent manipulation of the cryptocurrency trading volume. In addition to Gotbit and Andriunin, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, two senior employees of Gotbit, were also charged.

According to the indictment, Gotbit committed market manipulation on behalf of several cryptocurrency clients and wash trading from 2018 to 2024. This is a sham trade in cryptocurrencies. Gotbit is alleged to have carried out wash trades worth millions. The aim was to artificially inflate the trading volume of its tokens and mislead investors.

According to the District Court of Massachusetts, the prosecution and Andriunin have reached an agreement. Andriunin pleads guilty. Gotbit will cease its business activities. Gotbit will also forfeit 23 million US dollars in cryptocurrencies seized by investigators.

In return, the public prosecutor's office will plead for a prison sentence of two years for Andriunin. Without the agreement, he could have been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Andriunin has Russian and Portuguese citizenship. He was arrested in Portugal in October and subsequently extradited to the USA.

The investigation into Gotbit and Andriunin was part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Operation Token Mirrors. In order to track down the crypto fraudsters, the US federal police set up their own Ethereum token and an associated operating company.

(wpl)