Russian Gotbit founder strikes $23M plea deal with US prosecutors
Aleksei Andriunin, a Russian national charged with manipulating cryptocurrency through the Gotbit market maker platform, has reportedly struck a plea deal with prosecutors in the United States.
Gotbit founder and CEO Andriunin has agreed to forfeit about $23 million in Tether USDt (USDT) and Circle’s USDC (USDC) in a plea deal with Massachusetts federal prosecutors, the legal news service Law360 reported on March 19.
As part of the plea, Andriunin will plead guilty to three counts charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud and market manipulation, according to the letter signed by the defendant on March 19.
An excerpt from letters in the Gotbix founder case related to the $23 million forfeiture as part of the plea with Massachusetts prosecutors: Law360
“Defendant understands and agrees that forfeiture shall not satisfy or affect any fine, lien, penalty, restitution, cost of imprisonment, tax liability or any other debt owed to the United States,” the letter reads.
The agreement doesn’t bind the US Attorney General
In the letter to the defendant, the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah Foley, stressed that the agreement to forfeit $23 million is only between Andriunin and the attorney.
“It does not bind the Attorney General of the United States or any other federal, state, or local prosecuting authorities,” the letter reads.
The letter also states that the defendant acknowledges the court is not obligated to adhere to the sentencing calculations proposed by the Massachusetts attorney.
An excerpt from legal letters in the Gotbix founder case related to sentencing guidelines with Massachusetts prosecutors: Law360
“Defendant may not withdraw defendant’s guilty plea if defendant disagrees with how the court calculates the guidelines or with the sentence the court imposes,” attorney Foley wrote.
Andriunin was extradited to the US in October 2025
Gotbit founder’s deal with Massachusetts prosecutors came months after Andriunin was extradited to the US in October 2024 after being arrested by Portuguese authorities.
Since extradition, Andriunin has appeared in a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was ordered to remain detained until further notice.
Andriunin, 26, was charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation and wire fraud in a superseding indictment in October 2024.
Source: Alex Andriunin
According to Massachusetts court documents, Gotbit was a crypto “market maker” that orchestrated a “widespread cryptocurrency market manipulation scheme.” The platform was registered in Belize and was said to provide artificial trading volume for global firms, including those in the US, between 2017 and 2024.
Related: Telegram founder Pavel Durov given permission to leave France
Apart from Andriunin, the criminal complaint from Massachusetts authorities in September 2024 also involved other Gotbit employees, such as marketing director Fedor Kedrov and sales director Qawi Jalili, both living in Russia.
In the plea letter, Massachusetts attorney Foley mentioned that the assets listed in the forfeiture section of the Gotbit plea agreement are solely controlled by the defendant on Gotbit’s behalf despite these assets belonging to Gotbit.
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Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.
MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.
Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.
Read more:
Yet another fiscal ‘black hole’? Here’s why this one matters
Success or failure: One year of Keir in nine charts
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Rachel Reeves’s fiscal dilemma
In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.
“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.
“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.
“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”
Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.
The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.
It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.
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Why was the chancellor crying at PMQs?
Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.
Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”
In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.
“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”
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Reeves is ‘totally’ up for the job
Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.
“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.
“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”
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