Crypto Manipulation Scandal:
Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin’s empire of digital deceit came crashing down this year. The market manipulation mastermind pleaded guilty to fraud charges after running his shady operation from 2018 to 2024. His business model? Pretty simple, really. Inflate token prices artificially, make them look popular, then cash in when unsuspecting investors bought the hype. Classic wash trading—creating fake activity where none existed. The guy actually kept spreadsheets comparing his fake volumes to natural trading. Talk about meticulous record-keeping for criminal activity.
The crypto con artist who documented his own fraud with spreadsheets while pocketing millions from duped investors.
The price tag for his scheming? A cool $23 million forfeited from his crypto wallets—$14 million in Tether and $9 million in USD Coin. The government seized over $25 million total. Unlike regulated crypto ETFs, which provide investor protection through oversight and transparency, Andriunin’s operation thrived on deception and market manipulation. Meanwhile, regular folks who bought tokens at artificially inflated prices got screwed. Surprise, surprise.
Andriunin won’t be planning his next scam anytime soon. After being nabbed in Portugal and extradited to the US in February 2025, he faced up to 20 years in prison. But he’ll likely walk free thanks to a plea deal. Three years of supervised release with restrictions on crypto activities. The judge still gets final say, though.
This wasn’t just about one bad actor. The DOJ charged 14 individuals and 4 crypto companies in the broader investigation. Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, MyTrade—all implicated. The FBI even created a fake token called NexFundAI token to catch these manipulators. Pretty clever. Companies like Saitama, Robo Inu, VZZN, and Lillian Finance were directly implicated in the scheme.
The fallout hit the industry hard. Meme coins scrambled to distance themselves from Gotbit. The techniques—wash trading, spoofing, pump and dumps—exposed just how vulnerable crypto markets really are. Regulators weren’t playing around, either. IOSCO finalized new standards while the SEC ramped up enforcement.
The message? Crypto’s Wild West days are numbered. Regulators are watching, and they’re getting better at catching the bad guys. Who knew you couldn’t just make up trading volume and get away with it forever?
