Gotbit Founder to Forfeit $23M Worth of Cryptocurrency in Plea Deal

Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of Gotbit, has reached a plea agreement with United States authorities. He has agreed to forfeit $23 million in cryptocurrency assets in exchange for a settlement on market manipulation charges. 

Last year, Andriunin faced severe penalties for the charges leveled at him. For wire fraud, he received a maximum prison term of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss. Additionally, he faced five years in prison and up to three years of supervised release for market manipulation. 

Andriunin Agrees to Forfeit $23M in Plea Deal

According to official court documents, Andruinin has pleaded guilty to one count of market manipulation and two counts of wire fraud. The plea agreement could lead to no prison time and no additional fines beyond the forfeiture. However, the court retains final discretion over sentencing. 

If Andruinin’s plea deal gets approved, he would only be incarcerated for up to 24 months, followed by 36 months of supervised release. Per the document, he will be prohibited from participating in any crypto activities during the three years of supervised release. Furthermore, since he agreed to forfeit the crypto assets, Andruinin would not be required to pay any additional fines.

The crypto assets that Andruinin agreed to forfeit include USDT, worth nearly $14 million, stored in two different crypto wallet addresses, and USDC, with a value of around $9 million, kept in two crypto wallets. Notably, the document highlighted that while these assets are listed as the property of Gotbit Consulting LLC, the wallets are solely controlled by Andruinin on Gotbit’s behalf.

Massive Market Manipulation Scheme 

Andriunin was indicted last year for his role in a long-running “wash trading” scheme. It consisted of artificially inflated trading volumes and making fake trades on the market. According to authorities, these activities allegedly occurred between 2018 and 2024 when he was serving as Gotbit’s CEO.

An undercover investigation revealed that Gotbit is one of four companies engaged in market manipulation in the crypto industry. The other three companies implicated are ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade.