Aleksei Andriunin
Russian founder and CEO of crypto market maker Gotbit. He pleaded guilty in 2025 to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud for running wash-trading services that faked token trading volume; sentenced to eight months (time served), with Gotbit forfeiting $23M.
Also known as: Alex Andryunin
Bio
Aleksei Andriunin (also "Alex Andryunin"), a Russian national, founded and led the crypto market maker Gotbit. In a 2019 interview he described building a "trading system" to artificially inflate trading volume so tokens could get listed on CoinMarketCap and larger exchanges — the wash-trading the DOJ later charged. [1][2]
Legal outcome
Arrested in Portugal in October 2024 and extradited, Andriunin pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud. In June 2025 he was sentenced to eight months (deemed served via pre-trial detention) plus supervised release, and faced deportation; Gotbit forfeited about $23 million. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
Evolved Apes (NFT)ProjectsAn NFT collection launched on OpenSea in September 2021 that promised a fighting game. About a week later its anonymous developer 'Evil Ape' vanished with 798 ETH (~$2.7M). In June 2024 U.S. prosecutors charged three U.K. nationals over the scheme.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.