Russian national and Gotbit founder, Alex Andryunin, has entered right into a plea agreement with US prosecutors in connection to charges of wire fraud and cryptocurrency market manipulation.
The agreement, signed with the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, requires Andryunin to forfeit roughly $22.9 million in stablecoins—$18.7 million in USDT and $4.2 million in USDC—alongside other assets tied to the case.
The Plea Deal and Sentencing
In line with court filings, the aforementioned funds belonged to Gotbit, a now-defunct market-making and cryptocurrency consulting firm, but were solely controlled by Andryunin.
As a part of the deal, he has agreed to plead guilty to 1 count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and market manipulation, together with two additional counts of wire fraud. Initially, these charges carried a maximum sentence of as much as 20 years in prison, fines, and supervised release.
Nevertheless, under the terms of the plea agreement, the prosecution will recommend a reduced sentence of as much as 24 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. The ultimate decision rests with the court, which just isn’t sure by the agreement and can determine restitution at sentencing.
Aleksei Andriunin, the founding father of Gotbit, has reached a plea agreement with U.S. authorities, agreeing to forfeit $23 million in cryptocurrency assets in exchange for a settlement on market manipulation charges. Andriunin originally faced as much as 20 years in prison on charges…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 20, 2025
Legal Consequences and Future Restrictions
As well as, as a part of the plea arrangement, Andryunin has agreed to restrictions stopping him from participating in any cryptocurrency issuance, purchase, or sale on US trading platforms.
He also cannot appeal the court’s final sentencing decision, making the guilty plea binding. Notably, Andryunin was handed over to america last month after being arrested in Portugal last October.
His indictment followed an investigation into an alleged scheme during which several individuals created crypto firms, misrepresented their cryptocurrencies, and manipulated trading volumes to artificially inflate token prices.
Prosecutors argue that the scheme led to financial losses for investors who purchased tokens at inflated prices before their values eventually dropped.
While the prosecution acknowledged that the whole damages from the fraudulent activities couldn’t be precisely determined, they emphasized that the impact on market participants was substantial. The attorney wrote:
Specifically, the scheme caused reasonably foreseeable pecuniary harm to dispersed market participants who purchased cryptocurrencies at fraudulently inflated prices and lost money after those prices later dropped, once the costs of those cryptocurrencies were not artificially inflated. Nevertheless, neither these losses nor the gain that resulted from the offense can reasonably be estimated.
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