Russian National Set To Forfeit Nearly $23,000,000 After Agreeing To Plead Guilty to Crypto Market Manipulation

A Russian national who was charged for his role in a crypto market manipulation scheme will give up his access to millions worth of assets after striking a plea deal with US prosecutors.

In November, the U.S. Justice Department filed charges against the crypto market maker Gotbit’s CEO and founder Aleksei Andriunin for providing services that artificially inflated the trading volume of crypto assets on behalf of client companies, including those located in the United States.

According to a letter representing his plea agreement with the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Andriunin will plead guilty to three counts charging him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and market manipulation as well as wire fraud.

In exchange, prosecutors will recommend a reduced prison time not exceeding two years and three years of supervised release. They will also file a civil forfeiture action against $22,893,675 in USDT and USDC that are stored in four different crypto wallets.

The assets are owned by Gotbit but are solely controlled by Andriunin on behalf of the company.

“Gotbit has admitted that these assets are subject to forfeiture because they (1) constitute, or are derived from, proceeds of the offenses and/or (2) were involved in a transaction or attempted transaction in violation of one or more specified statutory offenses.”

Andriunin was arrested in Portugal in October and was extradited to the US in February.

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