Gotbit founder was extradited to the United States on suspicion of manipulating the Cryptocurrency market

Jinse Finance reported that Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of Gotbit and a Russian citizen, has been extradited to the United States on suspicion of "manipulating the cryptocurrency market on behalf of clients of a cryptocurrency company." The Massachusetts Attorney's Office in the United States stated that Andriunin appeared in court on Wednesday and was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of "wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market and wire fraud." Andriunin was arrested in Portugal last October. The prosecution accused him of creating a Crypto Assets company, falsely promoting tokens, engaging in wash trading to create the illusion of active trading, and inflating the price of specific tokens. In addition, companies such as ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade are also involved. The prosecution stated that Andriunin admitted in an interview in 2019 that he developed code for 'wash trading' to artificially increase trading volume, thus enabling tokens to be listed on CoinMarketCap and traded on major exchanges. If the wire fraud charge is proven, Andriunin could face up to 20 years in prison, up to 3 years of supervised release, a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, as well as restitution and forfeiture.