The founder of Gotbit, Aleksei Andriunin, reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday that will limit his prison time to a maximum of 24 months for his involvement in what authorities characterized as an extensive conspiracy to manipulate token prices for clients who paid for the service.
A 26-year-old citizen of Russia, Andriunin was extradited to the United States from Portugal last month and is facing two counts of wire fraud along with conspiracy to engage in market manipulation and wire fraud—charges that could result in a combined maximum sentence of 25 years. To secure a lighter sentence, Andriunin pleaded guilty to all three counts and consented to forfeit roughly $23 million in stablecoins connected to his illegal activities. The government has indicated it will not pursue any additional financial penalties.
In an indictment issued last October, prosecutors claimed that Gotbit operated effectively as a market manipulator for hire, providing services such as wash trading to crypto projects willing to pay to artificially elevate the volume and price of their tokens.
Andriunin’s guilty plea was somewhat anticipated, as he had previously been open about Gotbit’s operations. In a 2019 interview, he acknowledged the ethical concerns surrounding his business, revealing how he leveraged bot trading to inflate trading volume sufficiently for a project to secure a listing on CoinMarketCap.
For $15K, He’ll Fake Your Exchange Volume – You’ll Get on CoinMarketCap
Gotbit is not alone in this area; several other market makers provide similar services. Along with Andriunin and two associates, prosecutors have also charged several other companies, including CLS Global, MyTrade, and ZMQuant, along with various employees and promoters, for allegedly offering comparable market manipulation services.
A sentencing date for Andriunin has yet to be announced.