Federal grand juries in the United States have indicted 10 executives and employees from four cryptocurrency market-making firms for orchestrating fraud schemes designed to artificially inflate token prices and trading volumes.
On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced the charges against individuals associated with Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian. Three of the defendants, including two chief executive officers, were arrested in Singapore, extradited to the U.S., and made their initial appearances in an Oakland federal court today.
The Undercover Operation and Wash Trading
The indictments stem from an undercover operation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) division. As part of the investigation into illicit market activities, the FBI created its own cryptocurrency tokens to track the manipulation.
According to the authorities, the defendants acted as illicit market makers by engaging in “wash trading”. This practice involves traders coordinating to act as both the buyer and seller in the same transactions. The strategy creates a false appearance of organic market activity, thereby inducing unwitting investors to purchase the tokens at artificially high prices before the manipulators dump their holdings for profit.
Gotbit Convictions
Two individuals connected to the firm Gotbit have already been convicted in relation to the scheme.
- Antoine Tsao, a Taiwanese national and Business Development Manager, pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on June 2, 2025, following his arrest at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
- Nemanja Popov, a Serbian national and Account Manager, was arrested at San Francisco International Airport and subsequently pled guilty and was sentenced on February 10, 2026.
Another Gotbit employee, Russian national Ian Sofronov, was also indicted on March 25, 2025.
Extraditions from Singapore
The three defendants who recently appeared in court following their extradition from Singapore include executives from Vortex and Contrarian:
- Gleb Gora (24): A Russian national and CEO of Vortex, arrested in Singapore on October 2, 2025. Other indicted Vortex executives include CFO Sergei Ryzhkov and Business Development Manager Michael Vogel.
- Manu Singh (34): An Indian national and CEO of Contrarian, arrested in Singapore on October 2, 2025.
- Vasu Sharma (26): An Indian national and Business Development Associate at Contrarian, also arrested in Singapore on October 2, 2025.
Other individuals indicted in the September 4, 2025, filing include Contrarian CFO Kushagra Srivastava and Sabby Singh, a Business Development Manager at partner firm Antier Solutions Private Limited.
To date, authorities have seized over $1 million in cryptocurrency related to the schemes. Defendants Gora, Singh, and Sharma currently remain in federal custody. If convicted, the individuals face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each violation of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy.
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This article is published on BitPinas: U.S. DOJ Indicts 10 Crypto Executives in International Market Manipulation Sting
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