Extradition of Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin to the U.S.
Aleksei Andriunin, the 26-year-old founder of the cryptocurrency firm Gotbit, was extradited to the United States on Tuesday to face serious fraud charges. The allegations suggest that his company was involved in a “wide-ranging conspiracy” aimed at manipulating token prices for a variety of client cryptocurrency companies. This information was disclosed in a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday.
Andriunin was initially arrested in Portugal in October of last year and has since been indicted by a grand jury in Boston. The charges against him include wire fraud and conspiracy to commit both market manipulation and wire fraud, which together could result in a maximum combined sentence of 25 years in prison. Notably, the indictment also implicates Gotbit itself, along with two of its directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, both of whom are also Russian nationals.
Prosecutors allege that from 2018 to 2024, Gotbit effectively offered market manipulation services for hire, catering to a wide array of cryptocurrency firms, including several based in the United States. Andriunin was candid about the nature of Gotbit’s operations; in a 2019 interview with CoinDesk, referenced in the DOJ’s announcement, he openly acknowledged that his business practices were “not entirely ethical.”
According to court documents, Gotbit is reported to have received “tens of millions of dollars in proceeds” as a result of these fraudulent activities. Furthermore, Andriunin is accused of transferring millions of dollars from Gotbit’s profits into his personal account on Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange.
Following his extradition, Andriunin made his initial appearance before a judge in Boston on Tuesday. As of now, his next hearing has yet to be scheduled.
