FBI Investigation: Over $25 Million in Crypto Seized, Three Companies Charged

- Three cryptocurrency companies and 15 individuals have been charged with fraud and market manipulation following an unprecedented FBI investigation that included the creation of a new digital token to detect criminal activity in the industry.

- Federal prosecutors in Boston announced charges against Gotbit, ZM Quant, and CLS Global, along with their executives and employees. This resulted in four arrests, five guilty pleas, and the seizure of over $25 million in cryptocurrency.

- Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy emphasized that the defendants engaged in fraudulent transactions to inflate the trading volume of the tokens, ultimately leaving innocent investors “holding the bag.”

- The FBI established a cryptocurrency company called NexFundAI, which operated a token on the Ethereum blockchain that ZM Quant, CLS Global, and another company, MyTrade, agreed to manipulate.

- The SEC has also filed related civil cases. One of the companies charged is Saitama, whose market value skyrocketed to $7.5 billion due to manipulation by executives, including CEO Manpreet Singh Kohli, who was arrested in the UK.

- Gotbit CEO Aleksei Andriunin was arrested in Portugal, while two of the company's employees in Russia were also charged. Federal prosecutors in Boston said that from 2018 to 2024, Gotbit engaged in "wash trading" and other manipulative behavior to inflate token trading volumes.

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