Justice Lands Historic Crypto Market Manipulation Charges

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged four cryptocurrency businesses and 14 individuals in a landmark case involving market manipulation.

The alleged schemes involved 'wash trading,' where entities create fake trading activity to artificially pump up prices, followed by a 'pump and dump' tactic to sell holdings at inflated values.

Aleksei Andriunin, the 26-year-old CEO of Gotbit, was arrested in Portugal and is awaiting extradition. In 2019, he bragged about 'making a business of faking trade volumes at crypto exchanges.'

The FBI-generated cryptocurrency NexFundAI was at the center of the probe, with ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade allegedly manipulating or conspiring to manipulate its trading volumes.