Aleksei Andriunin, Founder of Gotbit, Extradited to the U.S. on Fraud Allegations
The 26-year-old Russian executive faces serious charges regarding market manipulation.
Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit, is a 26-year-old Russian national recently extradited to the U.S. to face allegations of fraud. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, his firm was involved in a broad scheme to manipulate cryptocurrency token prices for various clients.
Andriunin was arrested in Portugal last October and indicted by a grand jury in Boston on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy, which together could lead to a maximum of 25 years in prison. The case also involves Gotbit and its directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, both from Russia.
Prosecutors claim that between 2018 and 2024, Gotbit provided market manipulation services for various cryptocurrency firms, including those based in the United States. Andriunin has previously acknowledged that the operations of Gotbit were ’not entirely ethical’ in a 2019 interview.
On Tuesday, Andriunin made a court appearance and is awaiting his next hearing.
