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The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has announced the extradition of Aleksei Andriunin, founder of Gotbit, to face charges of market manipulation and wire fraud. The announcement was made in a press release on February 26.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Andriunin, a 26-year-old Russian national residing in Portugal, was arrested on October 8, 2024, and extradited to the United States on February 25, 2025. He appeared in federal court in Boston and was ordered detained pending a future hearing. The indictment also charges Gotbit and two of its directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation.
Between 2018 and 2024, Gotbit allegedly engaged in "wash trading," a form of sham trading used to artificially inflate the trading volumes of various cryptocurrency tokens. This manipulation aimed to deceive investors and secure listings on larger cryptocurrency exchanges. Prosecutors allege that Gotbit's fraudulent trades amounted to millions of dollars, generating tens of millions in illicit proceeds.
