Audit log

Every state-changing event for Gotbit: moderation decisions on community submissions, plus corrections and updates from the news pipeline. URL-based decisions are designed to carry three independent witnesses — the original source, an Internet Archive snapshot, and a Solana memo signed by our publicly-disclosed publisher key. Archive coverage is still being backfilled, so each decision below reports its own snapshot status rather than assuming one exists.

1. #1publishby system:backfill

   2026-07-29 23:16:51Z
   Score: ? → ? (no score change)
   anchorpending

   chain

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   hash

   4zaTmYCp8eoo…drR6v6p4copysha256 → base58

   verifying row…

   canonical bytes (28787 B) ▸

   {"actor":"system:backfill","investigation_id":"c58973ac-556a-4091-a4c5-c595f626a0ab","kind":"publish","page_slug":"gotbit","published_at":"2026-07-29T23:16:51.852Z","sequence_num":1,"snapshot":{"content_type":"investigation","entity_name":"Gotbit","sections":[{"content":"Gotbit Consulting LLC, commonly referred to as Gotbit, presented itself publicly as a legitimate cryptocurrency market-making firm offering liquidity services. In practice, federal prosecutors allege the company operated as a market manipulator for hire, providing wash trading services to cryptocurrency projects that sought artificially inflated trading volumes. According to charging documents, between 2018 and 2024, Gotbit developed and deployed automated bots that simultaneously placed buy and sell orders through different accounts it controlled, creating the appearance of organic trading activity. These fabricated volumes were used to help client tokens gain listings on exchanges and data aggregators such as CoinMarketCap, and to induce retail investors to purchase tokens at prices the DOJ characterized as artificially inflated.\n\nIn a 2019 interview with CoinDesk, Andriunin — then a 20-year-old college student at Moscow State University — acknowledged the business model openly, stating the operation was 'not entirely ethical' and describing how his bots generated sufficient artificial volume to secure CoinMarketCap listings. At the time, Gotbit charged approximately $8,000 to list a token on small exchanges, $6,000 per month for ongoing volume support, and $15,000 for CoinMarketCap listing services. The company worked with approximately 30 cryptocurrency projects as of 2019 and reportedly grew to manage $1.3 billion in assets and serve approximately 50 projects before federal action concluded its operations.","heading":"Overview and Business Model","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"For $15K, He'll Fake Your Exchange Volume — CoinDesk 2019 Interview","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/18/for-15k-hell-fake-your-exchange-volume-youll-get-on-coinmarketcap"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Pleads Guilty — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/03/20/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Got Got: Founder Sentenced to Prison for Crypto Wash Trading — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/325111/gotbit-founder-sentenced-prison-crypto-wash-trading"}]},{"content":"On October 31, 2024, a federal grand jury in Boston returned an indictment against Gotbit Consulting LLC, founder and CEO Aleksei Andriunin, Director of Market Making Fedor Kedrov, and Director of Sales Qawi Jalili. The charges included wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. Andriunin, a dual Russian and Portuguese national aged 26 at time of indictment, was arrested in Portugal on October 8, 2024 and extradited to the United States on February 25, 2025. The indictment alleged that Andriunin made tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from fraudulent wash trading services, with funds transferred to his personal Binance account. Kedrov and Jalili were named as co-defendants but their subsequent legal proceedings were not fully detailed in public court releases available as of July 2026.\n\nProsecutors in the District of Massachusetts described the conduct as 'cases where an innovative technology — cryptocurrency — met a century-old scheme — the pump and dump.' The indictment alleged that Gotbit's services enabled client token projects to defraud retail investors by inducing purchases at prices that appeared to reflect genuine market demand but were in fact manufactured through coordinated self-dealing transactions.","heading":"DOJ Charges — District of Massachusetts (October 2024)","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"DOJ Alleges Gotbit Founder Made 'Tens of Millions' on Wire Fraud in Indictment — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/289520/us-indicts-gotbit-founder-wire-fraud"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Founder of Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firm Gotbit Indicted — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/founder-cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-indicted-market-manipulation-and"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Founder Extradited to the US — Crypto.news","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto.news/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-extradited-to-the-u-s/"}]},{"content":"In March 2025, Aleksei Andriunin entered a guilty plea to two counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud in the District of Massachusetts. Under the terms of his plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend no more than 24 months in prison. On June 13, 2025, U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley sentenced Andriunin to eight months in prison plus one year of supervised release, with Andriunin barred from crypto-related activity during the supervised release period. The court also ordered the forfeiture of approximately $23 million in cryptocurrency, comprising approximately $9 million in USDT, $4.2 million in USDC, and two additional wallets containing $5 million and $4.7 million in USDT respectively.\n\nGotbit Consulting LLC simultaneously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years' probation, during which it was required to cease all operations. The company's forfeiture of $23 million in seized cryptocurrency was imposed at the corporate level. Andriunin's defense attorneys argued the scheme caused minimal harm because 'there were no measurable losses' and no identifiable victims came forward, though prosecutors characterized the deception as causing investor harm by inducing purchases at artificially inflated prices.","heading":"Guilty Plea and Sentencing of Aleksei Andriunin (2025)","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firm Gotbit and Founder Sentenced — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Founder Sentenced to 8 Months Following Wash Trading Scheme — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/358107/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-sentenced-to-8-months-following-wash-trading-scheme"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Pleads Guilty — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/03/20/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"US Court Slaps Gotbit Founder with 8-Month Sentence — Cryptopolitan","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/gotbit-founder-8-month-sentence-wash-trading/"}]},{"content":"On March 30, 2026, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced three coordinated indictments as part of Operation Token Mirrors, charging ten foreign nationals across four cryptocurrency firms: Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian. The Gotbit-specific indictment charged three employees: Antoine Tsao (also known as Chung Tien Tsao), a Taiwanese national and Business Development Manager; Ian Sofronov, a Russian national and Sales Manager; and Nemanja Popov, a Serbian national and Global Account Manager. All three faced charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. sections 1349 and 1343, each count carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.\n\nOperation Token Mirrors was a joint undercover investigation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) in which federal agents created fictional cryptocurrency tokens and approached market makers posing as clients seeking wash trading services. Gotbit employees allegedly accepted the undercover engagement, with agents recording executives describing the firm's manipulation methods. Blockchain forensic analysis cited in charging documents found that 1,209 of 1,221 transactions (99%) traceable to Gotbit wallets were circular — consistent with wash trading rather than organic market activity. An additional $1.2 million in USDT was seized from a Gotbit wallet on June 3, 2025.\n\nRegarding individual outcomes among the three employees: Antoine Tsao was arrested at JFK International Airport and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on June 2, 2025, receiving a sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland, California. Nemanja Popov was arrested at San Francisco International Airport, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced on February 10, 2026. The status of Ian Sofronov's case was not publicly resolved in available sources as of July 2026.","heading":"Operation Token Mirrors — Northern District of California (March 2026)","severity":"critical","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Ten Foreign Nationals Charged in International Operation Targeting Cryptocurrency Market Manipulation — DOJ USAO-NDCA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged — TRM Labs","type":"research","url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Ten Foreign Nationals Charged — IRS Criminal Investigation","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-in-an-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"US Indicts 10 Foreign Nationals for Alleged Crypto Wash Trading Scheme — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/395997/us-indicts-crypto-wash-trading"}]},{"content":"Court filings and investigative reporting identified specific cryptocurrency projects that allegedly paid Gotbit for wash trading services. Robo Inu allegedly paid Gotbit to artificially inflate its token's trading volume on exchanges including BitMart beginning in 2022. The Saitama token's leadership allegedly paid multiple market makers, including Gotbit and ZM Quant, to conduct wash trades on BitMart, LBank, and XT.com. Leaders of Robo Inu and Saitama faced separate federal charges in an October 9, 2024 indictment.\n\nGotbit also publicly claimed partnerships with additional projects, including meme tokens Neiro and Bonk, and announced an advisory relationship with Hamster Kombat on April 8, 2024. Hamster Kombat subsequently denied having worked with Gotbit as a market maker, though it did not contest Gotbit's original announcement at the time it was made. On-chain investigator ZachXBT identified Gotbit's activities early and warned that projects working with Gotbit exhibited highly questionable trading patterns. According to ZachXBT's analysis, Gotbit would inflate token prices up to ten times within the first minutes of price discovery to generate fear of missing out (FOMO) among retail buyers, then sell large quantities of tokens into the resulting price surge.\n\nGotbit is the third crypto market maker convicted in connection with illegal wash trading following MyTrade's founder (October 2024) and CLS Global FZC LLC (April 2025), indicating a pattern of industry-wide manipulation-as-a-service operations that authorities characterized as systematically corrupting the perceived legitimacy of dozens of token projects over multiple years.","heading":"Known Client Tokens and Broader Ecosystem Impact","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Eighteen Individuals and Entities Charged in International Operation — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hamster Kombat Denies Working with Gotbit — Cryptopolitan","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/hamster-kombat-denies-working-with-gotbit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hamster Kombat Clarifies Gotbit Ties Amid Market Manipulation Concerns — DailyCoin","type":"news_article","url":"https://dailycoin.com/hamster-kombat-clarifies-gotbit-ties-amid-market-manipulation-concerns"},{"credibility":2,"name":"FBI Creates Token Project in Trojan Horse Crypto Operation — TRM Labs","type":"research","url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/fbi-creates-token-project-in-trojan-horse-crypto-operation-that-seizes-25-million"}]},{"content":"The federal investigation against Gotbit used a combination of undercover operations and blockchain forensic analysis. In the District of Massachusetts case, FBI and IRS-CI agents posed as potential clients seeking wash trading services and recorded Gotbit executives describing their methods in detail. Andriunin had also provided substantial self-incriminating information in the 2019 CoinDesk interview, which prosecutors cited as evidence of the scheme's intentional nature.\n\nFor the Northern District of California charges under Operation Token Mirrors, the FBI created fictional cryptocurrency tokens, approached market-making firms, and documented Gotbit employees agreeing to provide wash trading services for the undercover tokens. After Gotbit disclosed 36 wallet addresses to the undercover client, blockchain investigators reconstructed the full scope of the circular transactions. Analysis found that 1,209 of 1,221 transactions (approximately 99%) traced to those wallets were circular, providing direct on-chain corroboration of the wash trading allegations. The government seized over $25 million in cryptocurrency across all Operation Token Mirrors cases combined.","heading":"Investigative Methods and On-Chain Evidence","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":2,"name":"Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged — TRM Labs","type":"research","url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"credibility":3,"name":"What Was Operation Token Mirrors, and What Did It Uncover? — The Federal Criminal Attorneys","type":"other","url":"https://www.thefederalcriminalattorneys.com/token-mirrors"},{"credibility":1,"name":"For $15K, He'll Fake Your Exchange Volume — CoinDesk 2019 Interview","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/18/for-15k-hell-fake-your-exchange-volume-youll-get-on-coinmarketcap"}]},{"content":"The Gotbit prosecution was part of a coordinated federal enforcement campaign against manipulation-as-a-service firms in the cryptocurrency industry. The October 2024 District of Massachusetts action (Operation Token Mirrors — Massachusetts phase) simultaneously charged 18 individuals and entities across multiple firms including ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade, resulting in five initial plea agreements and over $25 million in seized assets. The March 2026 Northern District of California charges (Operation Token Mirrors — California phase) extended the enforcement to Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian alongside the three Gotbit employees, with additional defendants arrested in Singapore in October 2025.\n\nGotbit's criminal resolution placed it as the third market-making firm convicted for illegal wash trading following MyTrade's founder (October 2024) and CLS Global FZC LLC (April 2025). The sequential convictions across multiple firms indicated to regulators a systemic, industry-wide practice of selling artificial volume services to token projects.","heading":"Broader Criminal Enforcement Context","severity":"high","sources":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Eighteen Individuals and Entities Charged in International Operation — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DOJ Charges 10 in Massive Crypto Wash Trading Scheme — CCN","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.ccn.com/news/crypto/doj-indicts-10-crypto-wash-trading-bots-market-manipulation/"},{"credibility":3,"name":"Ten Foreign Nationals Indicted in Major Crypto Market Manipulation Crackdown — AML Network","type":"other","url":"https://amlnetwork.org/aml-news/ten-foreign-nationals-indicted-in-major-crypto-market-manipulation-crackdown-operation/"}]}],"sources_used":[{"credibility":1,"name":"Ten Foreign Nationals Charged in International Operation Targeting Cryptocurrency Market Manipulation — DOJ USAO-NDCA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firm Gotbit and Founder Sentenced — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firm Gotbit and Founder Plead Guilty — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-plead-guilty-market"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Eighteen Individuals and Entities Charged in International Operation — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Founder of Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firm Gotbit Indicted — DOJ USAO-MA","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/founder-cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-indicted-market-manipulation-and"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Ten Foreign Nationals Charged — IRS Criminal Investigation","type":"regulatory","url":"https://www.irs.gov/compliance/criminal-investigation/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-in-an-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":1,"name":"For $15K, He'll Fake Your Exchange Volume — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/18/for-15k-hell-fake-your-exchange-volume-youll-get-on-coinmarketcap"},{"credibility":1,"name":"Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Pleads Guilty — CoinDesk","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/03/20/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-market-manipulation"},{"credibility":2,"name":"DOJ Alleges Gotbit Founder Made Tens of Millions on Wire Fraud in Indictment — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/289520/us-indicts-gotbit-founder-wire-fraud"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Got Got: Founder Sentenced to Prison for Crypto Wash Trading — Decrypt","type":"news_article","url":"https://decrypt.co/325111/gotbit-founder-sentenced-prison-crypto-wash-trading"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Founder Sentenced to 8 Months Following Wash Trading Scheme — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/358107/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-sentenced-to-8-months-following-wash-trading-scheme"},{"credibility":2,"name":"US Indicts 10 Foreign Nationals for Alleged Crypto Wash Trading Scheme — The Block","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/395997/us-indicts-crypto-wash-trading"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged — TRM Labs","type":"research","url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"credibility":2,"name":"FBI Creates Token Project in Trojan Horse Crypto Operation — TRM Labs","type":"research","url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/fbi-creates-token-project-in-trojan-horse-crypto-operation-that-seizes-25-million"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Founder Extradited to US to Face Market Manipulation and Fraud Charges — Cryptoslate","type":"news_article","url":"https://cryptoslate.com/gotbit-founder-extradited-to-us-to-face-market-manipulation-and-fraud-charges/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"US Court Slaps Gotbit Founder with 8-Month Sentence — Cryptopolitan","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/gotbit-founder-8-month-sentence-wash-trading/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hamster Kombat Denies Working with Gotbit — Cryptopolitan","type":"news_article","url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/hamster-kombat-denies-working-with-gotbit/"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Hamster Kombat Clarifies Gotbit Ties Amid Market Manipulation Concerns — DailyCoin","type":"news_article","url":"https://dailycoin.com/hamster-kombat-clarifies-gotbit-ties-amid-market-manipulation-concerns"},{"credibility":2,"name":"Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Extradited to the US — Crypto.news","type":"news_article","url":"https://crypto.news/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-extradited-to-the-u-s/"}],"summary":"Gotbit Consulting LLC was a cryptocurrency market-making firm that operated from approximately 2018 to 2024, offering wash trading services to cryptocurrency projects seeking artificially inflated trading volumes. Founder Aleksei Andriunin pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation in March 2025 and was sentenced to eight months in prison in June 2025, with the company ordered to forfeit approximately $23 million and placed on five years' probation with a requirement to cease operations. Three additional Gotbit employees were charged by the DOJ in March 2026 as part of Operation Token Mirrors, a coordinated undercover investigation targeting cryptocurrency market manipulation.","timeline":[{"date":"2018-01-01","event":"Gotbit begins offering wash trading services to cryptocurrency projects, per charging documents covering the period 2018 to 2024.","source":"DOJ USAO-MA — Gotbit Sentencing Press Release","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/cryptocurrency-financial-services-firm-gotbit-and-founder-sentenced-market-manipulation"},{"date":"2019-07-18","event":"CoinDesk publishes interview with Aleksei Andriunin, then aged 20, in which he describes Gotbit's wash trading model and states the business is 'not entirely ethical.' Pricing disclosed: $8,000 for exchange listing, $6,000/month for volume support, $15,000 for CoinMarketCap listing.","source":"CoinDesk — For $15K, He'll Fake Your Exchange Volume","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/18/for-15k-hell-fake-your-exchange-volume-youll-get-on-coinmarketcap"},{"date":"2022-01-01","event":"Robo Inu allegedly begins paying Gotbit to artificially inflate its token's trading volume on BitMart, per charging documents.","source":"DOJ USAO-MA — Eighteen Individuals and Entities Charged","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread"},{"date":"2024-04-08","event":"Gotbit publicly announces a partnership with Hamster Kombat, describing itself as the project's 'official advisor on their web3 journey.' Hamster Kombat later denies having worked with Gotbit as a market maker.","source":"Cryptopolitan — Hamster Kombat Denies Working with Gotbit","source_url":"https://www.cryptopolitan.com/hamster-kombat-denies-working-with-gotbit/"},{"date":"2024-10-08","event":"Aleksei Andriunin arrested in Portugal.","source":"Crypto.news — Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Extradited to the US","source_url":"https://crypto.news/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-extradited-to-the-u-s/"},{"date":"2024-10-09","event":"U.S. federal prosecutors charge multiple market makers including Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade, and separately charge leaders of Robo Inu and Saitama token projects in the District of Massachusetts.","source":"DOJ USAO-MA — Eighteen Individuals and Entities Charged","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eighteen-individuals-and-entities-charged-international-operation-targeting-widespread"},{"date":"2024-10-31","event":"Federal grand jury in Boston returns indictment against Gotbit Consulting LLC, Aleksei Andriunin, Fedor Kedrov (Director of Market Making), and Qawi Jalili (Director of Sales) on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud.","source":"Decrypt — DOJ Alleges Gotbit Founder Made Tens of Millions on Wire Fraud","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/289520/us-indicts-gotbit-founder-wire-fraud"},{"date":"2025-02-25","event":"Aleksei Andriunin extradited from Portugal to the United States.","source":"Crypto.news — Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Extradited to the US","source_url":"https://crypto.news/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-extradited-to-the-u-s/"},{"date":"2025-03-20","event":"Aleksei Andriunin and Gotbit Consulting LLC plead guilty in the District of Massachusetts to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. Andriunin agrees to forfeit approximately $23 million in stablecoins.","source":"CoinDesk — Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Pleads Guilty","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2025/03/20/gotbit-founder-aleksei-andriunin-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-market-manipulation"},{"date":"2025-03-30","event":"Gotbit employee Antoine Tsao arrested at JFK International Airport.","source":"TRM Labs — Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged","source_url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"date":"2025-06-02","event":"Antoine Tsao pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland, California.","source":"TRM Labs — Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged","source_url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"date":"2025-06-03","event":"Government seizes $1.2 million in USDT from a Gotbit wallet.","source":"TRM Labs — Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged","source_url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"date":"2025-06-13","event":"U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley sentences Aleksei Andriunin to eight months in prison and one year of supervised release. Gotbit Consulting LLC is sentenced to five years' probation and required to cease operations. Approximately $22.8 million in cryptocurrency forfeited.","source":"Decrypt — Gotbit Got Got: Founder Sentenced to Prison for Crypto Wash Trading","source_url":"https://decrypt.co/325111/gotbit-founder-sentenced-prison-crypto-wash-trading"},{"date":"2025-10-02","event":"Defendants from Vortex (Gleb Gora, Sergei Ryzhkov, Michael Vogel) and Contrarian/Antier (Manu Singh, Kushagra Srivastava, Vasu Sharma, Sabby Singh) arrested in Singapore as part of Operation Token Mirrors.","source":"TRM Labs — Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged","source_url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"date":"2026-02-10","event":"Nemanja Popov pleads guilty and is sentenced following arrest at San Francisco International Airport.","source":"TRM Labs — Ten Fraudsters from Four Financial Services Firms Charged","source_url":"https://www.trmlabs.com/resources/blog/ten-fraudsters-from-four-financial-services-firms-charged-in-different-cryptocurrency-market-manipulation-schemes-out-of-northern-district-of-california"},{"date":"2026-03-30","event":"DOJ unseals three indictments as part of Operation Token Mirrors, including the Northern District of California indictment charging Gotbit employees Antoine Tsao, Ian Sofronov, and Nemanja Popov with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.","source":"DOJ USAO-NDCA — Ten Foreign Nationals Charged in International Operation","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/ten-foreign-nationals-charged-international-operation-targeting-cryptocurrency-market"}]},"v":1}

   Verify offline (run on your own machine)

   python -m src.verify_decision 9c293132-3b47-49ac-bdb0-922134c686c7copy