Gotbit Founder Extradited to the U.S. for Fraud Charges

Aleksei Andriunin, the 26-year-old founder of Gotbit, was extradited to the U.S. on Tuesday to face fraud charges linked to allegations of market manipulation.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday that Andriunin’s firm was involved in a “wide-ranging conspiracy” to manipulate token prices for various client cryptocurrency companies.

Andriunin was arrested in Portugal last October and has since been indicted by a Boston grand jury on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy, which could result in a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. The indictment also targets Gotbit, along with two Russian directors, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili.

From 2018 to 2024, prosecutors allege that Gotbit offered market manipulation services for hire, inflating token prices for multiple crypto companies, including those based in the U.S.

During a 2019 interview with CoinDesk, Andriunin acknowledged the questionable ethics of Gotbit’s business practices, stating they were “not entirely ethical.”

Court documents reveal that Gotbit received tens of millions of dollars from their fraudulent activities, and Andriunin is accused of transferring millions into his personal Binance account.

Andriunin made his initial appearance before a Boston judge on Tuesday, with no further hearing scheduled yet.