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Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring

avoid.net/gotbit-vortex-antier-contrarian-market-manipulation-ring→2/100·95% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION]

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anchored·4FEXHf…fGmu

Summary

Gotbit, Vortex, Antier Solutions, and Contrarian are four cryptocurrency market-making firms whose executives and employees were charged by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of Operation Token Mirrors, an FBI-led undercover investigation into wash trading and pump-and-dump schemes. Between 2018 and 2025, the firms allegedly provided market manipulation as a service to dozens of crypto projects, generating artificial trading volume through algorithmic bots and coordinated self-dealing across hundreds of wallets. In total, more than $25 million in cryptocurrency was seized and 28 individuals and entities faced criminal or civil charges across two waves of enforcement in October 2024 and March 2026.

Connected Entities

8 entities · 60 linked investigations
Organizations
□Gotbit2□Gotbit Consulting LLC2□Tether52□Antier Solutions□Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring
Protocols
⌂Uniswap
Tokens
♦Saitama Token / Manpreet Kohli4♦Operation Token Mirrors — DOJ Crypto Market Manipulation Ring2
Relationships
  • Gotbit Consulting LLC→mentioned with→Tether(60%)
  • Gotbit Consulting LLC→mentioned with→Gotbit(70%)
  • Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Tether(60%)
  • Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Uniswap(60%)
  • Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Gotbit(70%)
  • Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Saitama Token / Manpreet Kohli(75%)
  • Operation Token Mirrors — DOJ Crypto Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Tether(60%)
  • Operation Token Mirrors — DOJ Crypto Market Manipulation Ring→mentioned with→Gotbit(70%)
  • Saitama Token / Manpreet Kohli→mentioned with→Gotbit(70%)
  • Gotbit→mentioned with→Operation Token Mirrors — DOJ Crypto Market Manipulation Ring(80%)
  • + 10 more
Also appears in
Indonesia Pig Butchering Syndicate — Live Model Operation (2025-2026)·0Tether·52Gurhan Kiziloz·0DOJ Pig Butchering Civil Forfeiture — DC District July 2026·2Tudou Guarantee Telegram Marketplace·0PAX Gold (PAXG)·62Vortex·2BNB Chain Bridge·16A7A5 Stablecoin / Old Vector·0Drift Protocol DPRK Exploit (April 2026)·0+ 50 more

Connected Through

7 shared actors · 344 investigations

Distinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.

Have evidence about Gotbit Vortex Antier Contrarian Market Manipulation Ring?
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Community submissions

Timeline(17 events)

2018

Gotbit begins providing wash trading and market manipulation services to cryptocurrency clients, per its later guilty plea admission covering the period 2018-2024.

DOJ District of Massachusetts

2019

Aleksei Andriunin publicly describes in an interview how he developed code to wash trade cryptocurrencies to inflate volume for exchange listing purposes.

DOJ District of Massachusetts

2024

FBI launches Operation Token Mirrors, creating undercover cryptocurrency company NexFundAI and listing its token on public decentralized exchanges as a honeytrap for market manipulators.

TRM Labs / Fortune

8 October 2024

Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of Gotbit, is arrested in Lisbon, Portugal, at the request of the United States.

DOJ District of Massachusetts

9 October 2024

DOJ announces eighteen individuals and entities charged in Operation Token Mirrors (Wave 1): the first-ever criminal charges against financial services firms for cryptocurrency market manipulation and wash trading. Targets include Gotbit, CLS Global, ZM Quant, MyTrade, and associated token issuers. More than $25 million in cryptocurrency seized. SEC simultaneously files civil fraud charges.

DOJ District of Massachusetts / SEC

25 February 2025

Aleksei Andriunin is extradited from Portugal to the United States to face charges.

CoinDesk

20 March 2025

Aleksei Andriunin pleads guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation in the District of Massachusetts.

CoinDesk

25 March 2025

Federal grand jury in San Francisco indicts three Gotbit employees: Antoine Tsao (Taiwanese), Ian Sofronov (Russian), and Nemanja Popov (Serbian) on wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

IRS Criminal Investigation

30 March 2025

Antoine Tsao is arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

IRS Criminal Investigation

2 June 2025

Antoine Tsao pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olquin in Oakland, California.

IRS Criminal Investigation

3 June 2025

U.S. authorities seize 1.2 million USDT from Antoine Tsao's cryptocurrency wallet.

TRM Labs

13 June 2025

Aleksei Andriunin sentenced to eight months in prison and one year supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley in Boston. Gotbit Consulting LLC sentenced to five years' probation and ordered to cease all operations, forfeiting approximately $23 million in cryptocurrency.

Decrypt

28 August 2025

Federal grand jury in Oakland indicts three Vortex executives: Gleb Gora (CEO), Sergei Ryzhkov (CFO), and Michael Vogel (Business Development) on wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud charges.

IRS Criminal Investigation

4 September 2025

Federal grand jury in Oakland indicts four Contrarian/Antier individuals: Manu Singh (Contrarian CEO), Kushagra Srivastava (Contrarian CFO), Vasu Sharma (Contrarian Business Development), and Sabby Singh (Antier Solutions Business Development Manager) on wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

IRS Criminal Investigation

2 October 2025

Gleb Gora (Vortex CEO), Manu Singh (Contrarian CEO), and Vasu Sharma (Contrarian) are arrested in Singapore at the request of the United States.

The Star / IRS Criminal Investigation

10 February 2026

Nemanja Popov (Gotbit Global Account Manager) pleads guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olquin in Oakland.

IRS Criminal Investigation

30 March 2026

DOJ Northern District of California unseals three indictments (Wave 2) charging ten foreign nationals across Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian. Three Singapore-extradited defendants — Gleb Gora, Manu Singh, and Vasu Sharma — make initial appearances in Oakland federal court. All remain in custody.

DOJ Northern District of California
Provenance & Audit Trail
Anchored on SolanaVerify on-chain19 Wayback Archives

Decision Log

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 19 of 21 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

full audit log →version history →

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 6/23/2026, 11:21:43 PM

last updated: 9/11/2026, 1:32:44 AM

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