Russian citizen Aleksei Andriunin from Gotbit faces American criminal charges as U.S. authorities took him from Portugal to respond to wire fraud and trade violation charges. The Office of the U.S. The District of Massachusetts stated on Feb. 26 that it would return Aleksei Andriunin from Portugal to the United States after his arrest on October 8, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Justice charges Andriunin with market manipulation because he washed trades to fake trading results. Gotbit helped many crypto firms commit fraud from 2018 to 2024 by making untrue trading volume reports both to investors and trading platforms.
Gotbit Fraud Scheme Exposed
Justice officials from the United States Department of Justice charged Andriunin and his Gotbit business owners on October 31 2024 during their investigation. The company helped crypto businesses across the globe including US based organizations to create fake trading data. By stretching trading volumes companies became more attractive for notable exchanges and CoinMarketCap listings.
According to a 2019 interview Andriunin stated how Gotbit built an automatic wash trading system. Using program code the company created trading robots to produce fake buying interest in tokens. The authorities maintain Gotbit brought in millions of dollars through these deceptive services while Andriunin sent some of the profits to his Binance account.
Andriunin was sent to the United States on Feb. 25, 2025 and remains incarcerated before his legal proceedings. He may suffer a combined prison term of as much as 25 years plus fines for wire fraud and market manipulation scheme conspiracy. The court may direct Andriunin to give a double amount of what he gained through his illegal action and can also fine him $250,000.
Gotbit acts as the main example of companies manipulating crypto value being prosecuted by US authorities this year. US law enforcement is reviewing all three crypto manipulation businesses together including ZM Quant and CLS Global. The federal government agencies examine cryptocurrency cybercrimes more strongly to make their fight against criminal trade activities better.
Recent court action demonstrates that regulatory agencies now work harder to end digital asset fraud particularly in the Andriunin case. The U.S. government works to make safer crypto trading rules to police unapproved actions and help investors while digital currencies strengthen further.
