The US Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted the founder of crypto firm Gotbit over market manipulation and wire fraud.
Aleksei Andriunin, a Russian national, was involved in “a wide-ranging conspiracy” to manipulate crypto markets on behalf of client companies. Between 2018 and 2024, Gotbit provided market manipulation services to create artificial trading volume for various crypto firms.The superseding indictment also charged Gotbit and two of its directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, who already face crypto “wash trading” charges.
Andriunin purportedly kept records of Gotbit’s market manipulation, the DOJ release said. He had records of spreadsheets that compared “Created Volume” from wash trades with naturally occurring “Market Volume.”
Further, Andriunin and the firm’s directors marketed wash trading tactics to prospective clients. They also explained how Gotbit used multiple accounts to avoid being detected for wash trades on the public blockchain.