The founder of Gotbit, Aleksei Andriunin, a 26-year-old Russian national, was extradited to the United States on Tuesday to face accusations of fraud resulting from allegations according to which his business participated in a “large-scale plot” to manipulate the prices of tokens for the payment of customer cryptocurrency companies, the US Ministry of the United States.
Andriunin was arrested in Portugal last October and subsequently charged by a large Boston jury for wire fraud and conspiracy in favor of market manipulation and wire fraud, accusations which bear a maximum combined sentence of 25 years in prison. The indictment also accused Gotbit, as well as two of his administrators, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, both of Russia.
Between 2018 and 2024, prosecutors say that Gotbit mainly provided rental market handling services, offering their price inflation services to a variety of crypto companies, including companies based in the United States
Andriunin did not hesitate to the nature of the Gotbit services – in a 2019 interview with Coindesk, which is referenced in the announcement of Wednesday of the Ministry of Justice (DoJ), Andriunin, then second year student at the Moscow State University, admitted thoroughly that his business was “not entirely ethical”.
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According to court documents, Gotbit received “tens of millions of dollars in product” from their fraudulent activity. Andriunin is accused of “transferred[ing] Millions of dollars in Gotbit in his personal Binance account. »»
Andriunin made a first appearance before a Boston judge on Tuesday. His next hearing has not yet been planned.
