British courts have referred the extradition case of Saitama's CEO, Manpreet Kohli, to the government departments for handling, which means the likelihood of his being sent to the United States for trial has further increased. The U.S. authorities accuse him of telecommunications fraud and manipulation of the crypto market, and the token Saitama involved in the case once reached a valuation of $7.5 billion.
British court dismisses extradition challenge
Reuters cited the judgment content, stating that Judge Samuel Goozee dismissed Kohli's defense on August 19 and referred the case to the British minister for further decision-making. Kohli is currently on bail for 200,000 pounds and may still appeal in the future.
During the trial, the side represented by Kohli argued that if they were transferred to custody in the United States, their mental health risks could not be adequately protected. The judge did not accept this argument, believing that there were corresponding arrangements in place to address these risks both during transportation and within the U.S. prison system.
The US accuses of involving fraudulent transactions
The US prosecution alleges that Kohli profited approximately 20 million US dollars through related operations. The prosecution charges that personnel involved in the Saitama project claimed to investors that they were buying or holding tokens, while in reality they were secretly selling them for profit and colluding with market manipulation activities to attract funds into the scheme.
Kohli was arrested in London in 2024. This case is not an isolated incident, but part of a series of actions by the United States to crack down on crypto market manipulation. The case involves more than a dozen individuals and companies, with investigations focusing on activities such as artificial inflating volumes, wash trading, and price manipulation followed by selling off positions.
Publicly available information shows that Russell Armand and Maxwell Hernandez related to the Saitama project have subsequently pleaded guilty to the criminal charges in the government investigation.
FBI once used a self-built token as an undercover agent
In this round of law enforcement actions, FBI established an Ethereum token named NexFundAI and approached market makers in their capacity as project representatives to investigate whether they provided services for creating false trading activity. This action is part of Operation Token Mirrors with the goal of uncovering the operational chains involved in wash trading and artificially inflating trading volumes.
The institutions named in the investigation include Gotbit, MyTrade, CLS Global, and ZM Quant. Public materials indicate that some market makers are alleged to have been willing to coordinate account transactions in order to create seemingly genuine trading volumes and market enthusiasm for the tokens.
As previously disclosed, law enforcement authorities charged 18 individuals and entities in this operation and facilitated the seizure of approximately $25 million in crypto assets.
Multiple market makers have been penalized.
The market maker Gotbit involved in the investigation has admitted to providing wash trading services between 2018 and 2024. The prosecution alleges that the company manipulated the trading volume of tokens for clients, including Saitama and Robo Inu, and carried out related operations through multiple accounts.
The founder, also known as CEO Aleksei Andriunin, was sentenced to 8 months in prison in June 2025. Under the plea deal, he agreed to hand over approximately 23 million US dollars in stablecoins from wallets related to Gotbit. Gotbit Consulting was also ordered to cease operations and was given a 5-year suspended sentence.
Another market maker, CLS Global, also pleaded guilty to involvement in wash trading involving NexFundAI. In April 2025, the U.S. Federal Court in Boston ordered this company, registered in the United Arab Emirates, to pay $428,000 and imposed a three-year suspended sentence.
In addition, Kohli also applied to the Federal Court in Boston, USA, to have the prosecution withdrawn on the grounds that Saitama should not be considered a security subject to U.S. securities laws. However, the judge rejected this request earlier this month, and the related criminal prosecution remains in effect.
