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- Aleksei Andriunin, CEO of Gotbit, was extradited to the U.S. to face market manipulation and wire fraud charges.
- Gotbit allegedly engaged in wash trading to artificially boost trading volumes for crypto firms.
- Andriunin could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and additional penalties if convicted.
Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Aleksei Andriunin, a co-founder at cryptocurrency firm Gotbit, is extradited from Portugal into the USA on conspiracy to commit market manipulation as well as wire fraud charges. Arrested in 2024, a 26-year-old Russian national made a court appearance in a federal court in Boston on February 25, 2025. The court ordered that he be detained until more court proceedings are held.
Andriunin, two Gotbit directors, Qawi Jalili, and Fedor Kedrov, have also been charged in a federal grand jury in October 2024. Prosecutors state that Gotbit operated as a market-making firm in a bid to cheat investors as well as trading platforms. The firm is charged with trading volume manipulation in cryptocurrencies with a goal of enhancing trading activity in a bid to attract more investors.
Allegations of Market Manipulation
According to Court filings, Gotbit allegedly engaged in wash trading, a practice where assets are bought and sold simultaneously to create an illusion of high market activity. Between 2018 and 2024, the company is said to have provided these services to multiple cryptocurrency firms, including U.S.-based companies, to help them gain visibility on trading platforms like CoinMarketCap.
Andriunin reported in a 2019 interview that he had coded a software that made these transactions on its own, making cryptocurrencies appear more traded than in fact. The staff at Gotbit, which included Kedrov, apparently sold this strategy on with a promise that multiple accounts could be used in order not to be detected.
The company is also suspected to have conducted wash trades worth millions of dollars, making a substantial amount in fees as it misled investors about genuine digital tokens’ liquidity. Prosecutors also claim that Andriunin transferred millions of dollars from activities in Gotbit into his Binance account.
Upon conviction, he can be sentenced to 20 years in prison on the count of wire fraud, as well as a maximum of five years on conspiracy to conduct market manipulation. The case is prosecuted by the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston with assistance from international law enforcement as well as from the FBI. The case is ongoing in court, with Andriunin and co-defendants having a presumption of innocence until convicted in court.
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