Gotbit founder Aleksey Andryunin sentenced to eight months in prison for market manipulation

MentalWealthHarvester · 2026-02-28T18:03:32+00:00

26-year-old Aleksey Andryunin was sentenced to eight months in prison in the United States for engaging in fraudulent trading on the Gotbit platform and admitted to market manipulation. The platform was also banned for five years and faced severe legal consequences, marking the end of a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud case.

MentalWealthHarvester

2026-02-28 18:03:32

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26-year-old Aleksei Andryunin faces serious legal consequences. The founder and CEO of the Gotbit platform was sentenced to eight months in prison by a U.S. court for organizing fake trades worth millions of dollars. The U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts stated after the ruling that Aleksei Andryunin and his team’s actions had caused substantial fraudulent damage to the cryptocurrency market.

How Fraudulent Tactics Manipulate the Market

According to U.S. prosecutors, Aleksei Andryunin detailed in a 2019 interview how he wrote code for fake trades. This system was designed to artificially inflate trading volume, allowing the Gotbit platform to appear on mainstream crypto data sites like CoinMarketCap and attract more customers.

Gotbit employees openly promoted this market manipulation strategy to potential clients, explaining in detail how the platform used multiple accounts to evade detection of illegal trades on the public blockchain. This was not accidental but an organized, planned fraudulent activity. Prosecutors said that Gotbit collected tens of millions of dollars from clients through these fake trades, promising to help them manipulate the market using similar methods.

From Portugal to U.S. Court: The Extradition Case

Aleksei Andryunin holds dual citizenship in Russia and Portugal. He was arrested in Portugal in October 2024. In February 2025, he was officially extradited to the United States. In March of this year, the young entrepreneur reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors, admitting to involvement in electronic fraud and cryptocurrency market manipulation.

Platform Faces Five-Year Ban

In addition to Aleksei Andryunin’s personal sentence, the Gotbit platform itself faced severe penalties. The court ordered the platform to cease operations for the next five years. This means the once-fraudulent crypto exchange, which tried to attract users through fake prosperity, has been permanently shut down, marking the end of this large-scale market manipulation case.

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