Gotbit founder agrees to forfeit $23m in exchange for no prison time in plea deal

The Aleksei Andriunin Aleksei Andriunin Aleksei Founder Aleksei Founder Agreement. If it is approved, he could avoid prison sentence and additional fines.

Andruinin and the WE The lawyer for the Massachusetts district concluded a advocacy agreement which would make him lose $ 23 million cryptocurrency active ingredients.

According to the official court documentsAndruinin pleaded guilty to a market manipulation chief and two leaders fraud. For his indictment, he was the original of 20 years in prison or more. However, if his advocacy agreement is approved, the founder of the Gotbit market company would only be imprisoned up to 24 months, followed by 36 months of supervised release.

During the three years of supervised release, Andruinin will not be authorized to participate in cryptographic activities, according to the document.

In addition, he would not be obliged to pay additional fines because he agrees to lose all the cryptographic assets derived and directly traceable to the offenses of which he is accused, namely market manipulation and wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors estimated that the charges could lead to fines of $ 500,000 or twice the amount obtained or lost offenses. Andruinin would also be subject to penalties of restitution and forfeiture of assets, including up to five years of probation.

“The defendant agrees to fully help the confiscation of the above assets. The defendant agrees to quickly take all the measures necessary to transmit a clear title to the assets above in the United States,” said chief B. Foley of the American prosecutor’s office in the document.

As part of the agreement, Andruinin undertakes to lose usdt (USDT) with a value of almost $ 14 million stored in two different cryptographic wallet addresses. In addition, the founder of Gotbit will also give up around $ 9 million in USDC (USDC), preserved in two cryptographic wallets. In total, Andruinin will give about $ 23 million stable From four separate wallets.

In the document, it is indicated that if these assets are listed as the property of Gotbit Consulting LLC, the portfolios are only controlled by Andruinin in the name of Gotbit.

“Consequently, instead of criminal confiscation, Gotbit agrees with the civil confiscation of the assets above,” wrote Foley.

In November of last year, Andriunin was accused to participate in a longtime “washing trading” system, which consisted in artificially increasing negotiation volumes and making false trades on the market. These activities would have taken place between 2018 and 2024 while he was CEO of Gotbit.

Gotbit is one of the four companies charge by American prosecutors during the first criminal prosecution targeting market manipulation and simulated trade in the cryptography industry. The other three companies are ZM EST, CLS Global and Mytrade.