Aleksei Andriunin, a Russian national responsible for manipulating the cryptocurrency through the Gotbit merchant platform, would have concluded an agreement to advocate with prosecutors in the United States.
The founder and CEO of Gotbit, Andriunin, agreed to lose around $ 23 million in Tether USDT (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) in a advocacy with federal Massachusetts prosecutors, the law on legal press services, reported on March 19.
As part of the plea, Andriunin will plead guilty to three counts invoicing the conspiracy to commit wired fraud and a market manipulation, according to the letter signed by the defendant on March 19.
An extract from the letters in the Gotbix Founder case linked to the confiscation of $ 23 million as part of the plea with the Massachusetts prosecutors: Law360
“The defendant understands and agrees that the confiscation will not satisfy or affect a fine, a privilege, a sanction, a restitution, a cost of imprisonment, a tax responsibility or any other debt due to the United States,” said the letter.
The agreement does not bind the American prosecutor general
In the letter to the accused, the American lawyer for the Massachusetts district, Leah Foley, stressed that the agreement to lose $ 23 million is in Andriunin and the lawyer.
“He does not bind the Attorney General of the United States or any other federal, state or local prosecutor,” said the letter.
The letter also stipulates that the defendant recognizes that the court is not obliged to comply with the calculations of determining the sentence proposed by the lawyer for Massachusetts.
An extract from the legal letters in the case of the founder of Gotbix linked to the directives of determining the sentence with the prosecutors of the Massachusetts: Law360
“The defendant cannot withdraw the defendant’s guilt of guilt if the defendant does not agree on how the court calculates the directives or with the sentence that the court imposes,” wrote the lawyer Foley.
Andriunin was extradited to the United States in October 2025
The agreement of the founder of Gotbit with the Massachusetts prosecutors occurred months after Andriunin was extradited to the United States in October 2024 after being arrested by the Portuguese authorities.
Since the extradition, Andriunin appeared before a Federal Court of Boston, Massachusetts, where he was sentenced to remain detained until further notice.
Andriunin, 26, was accused of fraud by wire and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud in an indictment replaced in October 2024.
Source: Alex Andriunin
According to documents from the Massachusetts court, Gotbit was a cryptographic “market manufacturer” which orchestrated a “manipulation of the widespread cryptocurrency market”. The platform was recorded in Belize and would have provided an artificial negotiation volume for global companies, including those of the United States, between 2017 and 2024.
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In addition to Andriunin, the criminal complaint of the Massachusetts authorities in September 2024 also involved other Gotbit employees, such as the Marketing Director Fedor Kedrov and the director of sales Qawi Jalili, both living in Russia.
In the advocacy letter, Massachusetts lawyer, Foley, said that the assets listed in the Gotbit adviser confiscation section were only controlled by the defendant in the name of Gotbit despite these assets belonging to Gotbit.
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