U.S. Attorney’s office for Mass. seeking to recover $23M in cryptocurrency
The U.S. Attorney’s office for Massachusetts is attempting to recover roughly $23 million in cryptocurrency prosecutors say was the result of wire fraud and market manipulation.
The government filed a civil forfeiture action seeking the recovery of the cryptocurrency, which it seized from wallets controlled by Gotbit Consulting LLC.
On March 21, Gotbit, which is a cryptocurrency “market maker,” and its founder, Aleksei Andriunin, pleaded guilty to criminal charges in federal court in Boston. The charges were tied to the company’s fraudulent manipulation of cryptocurrency trading volume on behalf of its clients, other cryptocurrency companies.
As part of the company’s plea agreement, it consented to the forfeiture and admitted the cryptocurrency was subject to civil forfeiture.