Internet reports that Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of Gotbit and a Russian citizen, has been extradited to the United States on suspicion of "manipulating the cryptocurrency market on behalf of a client cryptocurrency company." Andriunin appeared in court on Wednesday and was charged by a federal grand jury with "wire transfer fraud and conspiracy to manipulate market and wire transfer fraud," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Andriunin was arrested in Portugal last October. Prosecutors accused him of creating a cryptocurrency company, falsely promoting tokens and conducting wash transactions, creating the illusion that transactions were active and raising the prices of specific tokens. In addition, companies such as ZM Quant, CLS Global and MyTrade are also involved. Prosecutors said Andriunin admitted in a 2019 interview to developing code for "wash transactions" to artificially increase trading volume, allowing tokens to be put on CoinMarketCap and traded on large exchanges. If convicted of wire transfer fraud, Andriunin "can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, up to 3 years outside prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the total proceeds or losses of the crime, as well as compensation and forfeiture."