DOJ Charges 10 Foreign Nationals Over Crypto ‘Wash Trading’ Scheme

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In brief

The DOJ has charged 10 individuals connected to firms Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian with cryptocurrency marketplace manipulation.
The charges stem from an FBI sting cognition that saw the bureau make respective crypto tokens to place the alleged schemes.
Three defendants were extradited from Singapore; 2 person already pled guilty.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced charges Monday against 10 individuals tied to 4 “market maker” firms—Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian—accused of manipulating integer plus prices done alleged "pump-and-dump" schemes.

Federal prosecutors allege the defendants conspired to artificially inflate trading volumes and cryptocurrency prices earlier selling to "unwitting investors" astatine inflated values. "These alleged pump-and-dump schemes caused losses to investors successful the United States and elsewhere," prosecutors said, noting that authorities person seized much than $1 cardinal successful cryptocurrency.

10 Foreign National Executives and Employees of Four Different Cryptocurrency Financial Services Firms Are Charged by @USAO_NDCA With Orchestrating Fraud Schemes to Artificially Inflate the Trading Volume and Price of Cryptocurrencies. Three defendants, including 2 CEOs, were…

— U.S. Department of Justice - International (@USDOJ_Intl) March 31, 2026

Three defendants, including elder executives, were extradited from Singapore and appeared earlier U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín successful Oakland, portion 2 others person already entered blameworthy pleas and received sentences.

The lawsuit illustrates however U.S. authorities are extending their scope to overseas actors whose alleged activities impact American cryptocurrency markets, adjacent erstwhile the defendants run wholly extracurricular the United States.

The charges stem from an FBI undercover cognition that deployed a bureau-created token to exposure alleged marketplace manipulation services—the aforesaid method utilized to underpin charges against 18 individuals and entities accused of marketplace manipulation successful October 2024.

In March past year, Gotbit laminitis Aleksei Andriunin reached a plea agreement with U.S. authorities successful transportation with marketplace manipulation charges, forfeiting $23 cardinal successful crypto assets.

Other caller actions by the DOJ person targeted privacy instrumentality developers and individuals who allegedly misused COVID alleviation funds to acquisition integer assets.