Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin was sentenced to 8 months for market manipulation

according to The Block, on June 13, the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts ruled against Aleksei Andriunin, the founder of cryptocurrency market maker Gotbit, finding him guilty of wire fraud and market manipulation, sentencing him to 8 months in prison and 1 year of supervised release. The court also sentenced Gotbit to 5 years of probation, during which it is prohibited from conducting business.

It is reported that 26-year-old Andriunin was arrested in Portugal in October 2024 and extradited to the U.S. in February this year. Prosecutors accused him of engaging in market manipulation activities, such as "wash trading," by creating false trading codes and manipulating multiple accounts, with the amount involved reaching tens of millions of dollars. As a market maker, Gotbit is suspected of artificially creating trading volume to get tokens listed on mainstream exchanges.