Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin has reached a plea agreement with U.S. authorities to forfeit $23 million in crypto assets in connection with market manipulation charges.
Andriunin’s involvement with Gotbit’s operations caused financial “harm to dispersed market participants” who bought crypto “at fraudulently inflated prices,” court documents cited by Law360 show.
The 26-year-old founder of market-making firm Gotbit was extradited to the U.S. in late February after being arrested in Portugal four months earlier.
The letter details a plea agreement communicated to both the court and defense counsel outlining provisions allowing either party to withdraw if the court rejects any element.
The plea agreement could result in no prison time and no additional fines beyond the forfeiture. However, the court retains final discretion over sentencing terms.
Andriunin faced a maximum 20-year prison sentence on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation. Gotbit, alongside three other crypto firms, was charged with crypto market manipulation in October last year.
Federal prosecutors have outlined maximum penalties for the market manipulation and wire fraud charges, including fines of $500,000 or twice the amount gained/lost from the offenses, plus mandatory restitution and asset forfeiture penalties, including up to five years of probation.
The assets subject to civil forfeiture totaling $23 million include amounts kept in stablecoins issued by Tether and Circle across four wallets “solely controlled” by Andriunin.
According to federal prosecutors, Gotbit operated as a sophisticated market manipulation enterprise between 2018 and 2024, offering token price-inflating services to various crypto projects, including U.S.-based companies.
Gotbit primarily engaged in extensive “wash trades” that “deceptively created the appearance of increased trading activity,” the court documents allege.
In a separate complaint filed by the SEC against Gotbit and Fedor Kedrov, cited as the firm’s marketing director, the regulator claimed that the crypto firm maintained detailed records comparing artificially “created volume” against natural “market volume” in crypto markets.
The firm openly recruited clients with pitches explicitly outlining how their service would help obscure activities on public blockchains, according to an unsealed indictment cited by the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a 2019 interview later referenced in Justice Department filings, Andriunin admitted that Gotbit’s business model was “not entirely ethical.”
Andriunin will serve three years of supervised release with strict conditions preventing his participation in any crypto activities during that period, court documents show.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
