PANews reported on April 1 that the U.S. Attorney's Office for Northern California announced that a federal grand jury has indicted 10 executives and employees of four cryptocurrency market makers—Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian—accusing them of manipulating cryptocurrency prices and trading volumes through fraudulent transactions to induce investors to buy at artificially inflated prices. Two CEOs and another executive from the three companies were extradited from Singapore to the United States and made their first court appearance in Oakland, California federal court. This case is the result of a covert operation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division targeting “wash trading” in the cryptocurrency industry, which has already seized over $1 million in cryptocurrency. Two defendants have previously pleaded guilty and been sentenced. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.