The U.S. Department of Justice has charged four crypto market makers involved in "wash trading" market manipulation, with up to 20 years in prison for the ten individuals involved.

ME News message, April 1 (UTC+8), the U.S. Department of Justice’s Northern District of California prosecutor’s office announced that a federal grand jury has brought criminal charges against 10 executives and employees related to cryptocurrency market makers Gotbit, Vortex, Antier, and Contrarian. The charges allege that they manipulated the prices and trading volumes of crypto assets through “wash trading” (fake trades), inducing investors to buy at artificially inflated price levels. According to law enforcement information, the case was revealed by a covert operation targeting manipulation in the cryptocurrency industry carried out jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). More than $1 million in crypto assets have already been seized. Two CEOs and one executive among the three companies have been extradited from Singapore to the United States and made their first court appearance in the federal court in Oakland, California. In addition, two defendants previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced. According to the allegations, the individuals involved could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250k fine at most. (Source: ODAILY)