U.S. Department of Justice: Executives and employees from Gotbit and three other cryptocurrency market-making firms have been indicted for suspected wash trading

The U.S. Department of Justice's Northern California Prosecutor's Office announced that 10 executives and employees from four cryptocurrency market-making firms have been charged with allegedly manipulating token trading volumes and prices through wash trading, involving Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian.

Three of the defendants have been extradited from Singapore to the U.S., and two others have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division even created multiple cryptocurrency tokens during an undercover operation to investigate illegal volume manipulation and price inflation within the industry. Over $1 million in cryptocurrency assets have currently been seized.