On Friday, the founder of a cryptocurrency financial services company entered a guilty plea to US charges alleging that he was involved in a complex plot to manipulate the digital token market for the benefit of client businesses. The CEO and founder of cryptocurrency “market maker” Gotbit, Aleksei Andriunin, and his business pled guilty in federal court in Boston to accusations of wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market.
Less than a month had passed after Andriunin, 26, was extradited from Portugal, where he had been living at the time of his arrest in October as part of an investigation into the cryptocurrency industry, when the Russian national and his company made their pleas.
Following a groundbreaking investigation known as “Operation Token Mirrors,” in which the FBI for the first time ordered the development of its own digital token to aid in the capture of cryptocurrency market scammers, they were among 15 individuals and three companies prosecuted.
Prosecutors said that as part of their plea agreements, they have recommended that Andriunin be sentenced on June 16 to a maximum of two years in jail. Gotbit consented to give over roughly $23 million worth of cryptocurrency. A request for response from Andriunin’s attorney was not answered.
According to the prosecution, Gotbit manipulated the market and engaged in “wash trading,” a type of sham trading, on behalf of multiple cryptocurrency clients between 2018 and 2024 in order to help increase trade volume for their tokens.
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