By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The founding father of cryptocurrency market maker Gotbit was indicted for his alleged function in a wide-ranging conspiracy to govern cryptocurrency markets on behalf of shopper cryptocurrency firms, the U.S. Justice Division mentioned on Thursday.
Aleksei Andriunin, 26, was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud in a superseding indictment, the Justice Division mentioned in an announcement.
The U.S. Justice Division says that between 2018 and 2024, when Andriunin was the agency’s CEO, Gotbit offered market manipulation companies to create synthetic buying and selling quantity for a number of cryptocurrency firms, together with firms positioned in america.
The superseding indictment additionally charged Gotbit and two of its administrators, Fedor Kedrov and Qawi Jalili, who had been beforehand charged in an indictment unsealed on Oct. 9.
Gotbit, Andriunin, Kedrov and Jalili couldn’t instantly be contacted.
If convicted of wire fraud, Andriunin faces a most penalty of 20 years in jail. If convicted of conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud, he faces a most penalty of 5 years in jail, the Justice Division mentioned.
Federal prosecutors mentioned on Oct. 9 that they had charged crypto companies Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS International and the leaders and staff of these and different firms in a takedown that led to 4 arrests, agreements by 5 folks to plead responsible and the seizure of over $25 million price of cryptocurrency.
