Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit, is facing a plea agreement that may require him to forfeit approximately $23 million in stablecoins. If the agreement is accepted, he could potentially evade prison time and additional financial penalties.
Andriunin has come to an agreement with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts that involves forfeiting $23 million in cryptocurrency holdings.
Court documents indicate that Andriunin has admitted guilt to one charge of market manipulation and two counts of wire fraud. He initially faced a possible sentence of over 20 years in prison. However, if his plea deal is accepted, the Gotbit founder could serve a maximum of 24 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.
During the three-year supervised release period, Andriunin will be barred from engaging in any cryptocurrency activities, as specified in the document.
Additionally, he will not be liable for further fines as part of the agreement, which stipulates that he will forfeit all crypto assets linked to the offenses he has been charged with—market manipulation and wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors estimate that the charges could lead to fines of $500,000 or double the amount involved in the offenses. Andriunin may also face restitution and asset forfeiture penalties, including up to five years of probation.
The plea document states, “Defendant agrees to fully assist in the forfeiture of the above assets and promptly take all necessary steps to transfer clear title of the assets to the United States,” according to Lead B. Foley from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
As part of the deal, Andriunin has consented to forfeit nearly $14 million in USDT stored in two separate cryptocurrency wallets. He will also relinquish approximately $9 million in USDC from two additional wallets, cumulatively amounting to around $23 million in stablecoins across four wallets.
The document clarifies that while these assets belong to Gotbit Consulting LLC, the wallets are exclusively controlled by Andriunin on behalf of Gotbit.
In lieu of criminal forfeiture, it is noted that Gotbit consents to the civil forfeiture of the aforementioned assets, as written by Foley.
Last November, Andriunin was accused of participating in an extensive “wash trading” scheme designed to artificially inflate trading volumes through deceptive trading on the market. These fraudulent activities were alleged to have taken place from 2018 to 2024 while he held the position of CEO at Gotbit.
Gotbit is one of four companies facing charges in the first criminal case focusing on market manipulation and sham trading within the cryptocurrency sector. The other implicated companies are ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade.