PANews reported on November 2 that according to Cryptoslate, the U.S. Department of Justice has sued Aleksei Andriunin, founder and CEO of crypto financial services company Gotbit, for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit market manipulation. Aleksei Andriunin, a Russian citizen living in Portugal, is suspected of planning a plan to artificially inflate the trading volume of crypto companies, including several US-based cryptocurrency companies. He was arrested on October 16. The indictment, filed in the District of Massachusetts, also charges Gotbit and its two directors, Qawi Jalili and Fedor Kedrov. Prosecutors allege that Gotbit, claiming to be a "Memecoin market maker," manipulated market activity using "wash trading" techniques from 2018 to 2024 to enable cryptocurrencies to be listed on platforms such as CoinMarketCap and major exchanges.