Loading story…
Federal prosecutors in California charged 10 foreign nationals tied to four cryptocurrency market-making firms—Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian—for allegedly running wash trading and pump-and-dump schemes that manipulated token prices and trading volume. According to the Justice Department, the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation carried out an undercover operation in which agents created cryptocurrency tokens and posed as market participants to expose firms allegedly offering illicit services designed to inflate prices and lure retail investors into buying at artificial valuations.
Three defendants—Gleb Gora, Manu Singh, and Vasu Sharma—were arrested in Singapore and extradited to the United States, where they appeared in federal court in Oakland, while two other defendants, Antoine Tsao and Nemanja Popov, had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced in related cases. Authorities said the schemes harmed investors in the United States and abroad, seized more than $1 million in cryptocurrency, and brought charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, each carrying potential penalties of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine per count.
See the reporting duties and controls this puts on the clock.
7 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of California announced charges against ten foreign nationals tied to Gotbit, Vortex, Antier Solutions, and Contrarian for alleged wire fraud conspiracy and cryptocurrency market manipulation. Authorities also disclosed that more than $1 million in cryptocurrency had been seized.
Antoine Tsao and Nemanja Popov had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with the cryptocurrency market-manipulation scheme before the March 2026 announcement.
As part of the Northern District of California crypto market-manipulation case, authorities obtained a forfeiture order covering 1.2 million USDT linked to GOTBIT. The action highlighted the use of blockchain tracing to support asset recovery in the investigation.
The three defendants arrested in Singapore were extradited to the United States and appeared in federal court in Oakland on March 30. Their transfer marked a major enforcement step in the cross-border investigation.
Gleb Gora, Manu Singh, and Vasu Sharma were arrested in Singapore as part of the international operation targeting alleged wash trading and pump-and-dump activity.
Before the broader 2026 case, related defendants tied to Gotbit were already charged in earlier 2025 prosecutions connected to alleged crypto market manipulation.
The FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted an undercover operation in which agents created cryptocurrency tokens to identify firms offering illicit wash-trading and pump-and-dump services. The operation built on the FBI's earlier 2024 Operation Token Mirrors sting involving the fake token NexFundAI.
Vulnerabilities, threat actors, malware, products, organizations, and breaches Mallory has linked to this story.
See what this changes for your reporting obligations and which controls it puts on the clock.
4 references tracked. Mallory keeps watching after this page renders.
trmlabs.com
Open sourcecoindesk.com
Open sourcethedefiant.io
Open sourcejustice.gov
Open sourceMap indicators from this story to your assets and identify affected systems in minutes.
Every observed campaign, victim, and pivot linked to actors named in this story.
Malware, exploits, and IOCs connected to the activity described here.
YARA, Sigma, and Snort rules deployed to your SIEM as soon as they’re published.
Get matching new stories delivered to your team as they break — not the next morning.
Ask questions about this story and take action on the answers.
Other stories Mallory is tracking that overlap on entities, sources, or topic labels.
U.S. prosecutors and courts advanced multiple cases tied to large-scale cryptocurrency fraud and laundering operations that targeted American victims through fake trading platforms and social-engineering lures. In one California case, **Jingliang Su**, a Chinese national, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after admitting he helped launder more than **$36.9 million** stolen from 174 victims by a scam network operating from Cambodia; the court also ordered more than **$26.8 million** in restitution. Authorities said the fraud used unsolicited messages, calls, texts, dating platforms, and bogus crypto-investment websites to persuade victims to transfer funds, which were then routed through U.S. shell companies, bank accounts, Deltec Bank in the Bahamas, and **Tether (`USDT`) wallets** controlled abroad. In a related prosecution, **Daren Li**, a dual citizen of China and St. Kitts and Nevis, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering after authorities said he and co-conspirators moved more than **$73 million** in victim proceeds through shell companies, U.S. financial accounts, wire transfers, and conversion into `USDT`; he was later sentenced to **20 years in federal prison**. The cases form part of a broader Justice Department crackdown on transnational crypto-enabled investment scams and money-laundering networks, with officials reporting that multiple co-conspirators have pleaded guilty and that the U.S. Secret Service played a central investigative role.
Jun 29, 2026
US authorities reported multiple enforcement actions tied to **crypto-enabled crime**. In the Empire Market case, prosecutors said co-creators **Raheim Hamilton** and **Thomas Pavey** designed the dark web marketplace to help users evade law enforcement and launder proceeds; the market allegedly facilitated about **$430M** in transactions (drugs, stolen payment data, counterfeit currency) before disappearing in 2020 in what investigators described as an exit scam that stole an estimated **$30M** in bitcoin. Hamilton pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges and agreed to forfeit roughly **1,230 BTC** plus **24.4 ETH** and real estate; Pavey previously pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit about **1,584 BTC** and other assets. Separately, reporting highlighted alleged misuse and laundering of digital assets in other contexts. On-chain investigator **ZachXBT** traced movements from wallets associated with **US-seized crypto** (held under U.S. Marshals Service custodianship) to wallets allegedly linked to **John Daghita**, the son of a federal contractor executive, with claims of roughly **$23M** in diverted cryptocurrency and another wallet holding about **$36M** in Ethereum; ZachXBT said he alerted the **U.S. Marshals Service**. In another DOJ case, **Jingliang Su** (a Chinese national) was sentenced to **46 months** for laundering proceeds from a cryptocurrency investment fraud that authorities said victimized **174** people for **$36.9M**, using social engineering via social media/dating platforms and counterfeit trading sites, with **$26.9M** restitution ordered and multiple US agencies involved in tracing funds and dismantling the network.
Jun 29, 2026
U.S., Chinese, Thai, and Dubai law enforcement agencies disrupted a major cryptocurrency investment fraud network by raiding at least nine scam centers in Dubai and arresting 276 people across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The investigation began after the FBI received complaints from American victims who lost millions of dollars in so-called pig-butchering schemes, and authorities said the operation used fake online personas, romance-style social engineering, and fraudulent crypto investment platforms to steal funds from victims worldwide. U.S. prosecutors in San Diego unsealed fraud and money laundering charges against alleged operators **Thet Min Nyi**, **Wiliang Awang**, **Andreas Chandra**, and **Lisa Mariam**, along with two fugitive co-conspirators. Investigators said the network operated through **Ko Thet Company**, **Sanduo Group**, and **Giant Company**, luring victims to bogus platforms including `CoinswiftTrading` and `SwiftLedger`, then moving stolen money through cryptocurrency accounts to obstruct recovery. The Justice Department said the action forms part of its broader Scam Center Strike Force campaign against cyber-enabled fraud that reportedly cost Americans **$16 billion** in the prior year.
Jun 29, 2026