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Ian Sofronov

avoid.net/ian-sofronov→8/100·82% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION]

Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.

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Summary

Ian Sofronov is a Russian national and former Sales Manager at GOTBIT Consulting LLC, a cryptocurrency market-making firm. A federal grand jury in San Francisco indicted him on March 25, 2025, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud in connection with an alleged wash trading scheme that prosecutors say artificially inflated cryptocurrency trading volumes and prices. As of the latest available reporting, Sofronov has not been arrested and his whereabouts are unknown, while his two GOTBIT co-defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced.

Connected Entities

1 entity

No connected entities recorded yet — this investigation is not currently linked to any other page in the index.

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Timeline(9 events)

1 January 2018

GOTBIT Consulting LLC begins operating as a market-maker-for-hire, allegedly offering wash trading services to cryptocurrency token projects. Approximate start date per prosecutors.

TRM Labs research on Operation Token Mirrors

1 October 2024

First wave of Operation Token Mirrors charges announced, targeting GOTBIT, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade. GOTBIT founder Aleksei Andriunin separately indicted in the District of Massachusetts.

DOJ USAO-MA press release

25 March 2025

Federal grand jury in the Northern District of California returns indictment against Ian Sofronov (Russian national, GOTBIT Sales Manager), Antoine Tsao, and Nemanja Popov on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud (case no. 25-cr-00082).

IRS Criminal Investigation press release; GovInfo court docket

30 March 2025

Antoine Tsao arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

TRM Labs research on Operation Token Mirrors

2 June 2025

Antoine Tsao pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin.

TRM Labs research on Operation Token Mirrors

1 June 2025

GOTBIT founder Aleksei Andriunin extradited from Portugal, pleads guilty to wire fraud and market manipulation, agrees to forfeit approximately $23 million in cryptocurrency (approx. $14 million USDT and $9 million USDC), and is sentenced to eight months in prison.

Yahoo Finance: Gotbit Founder Aleksei Andriunin Pleads Guilty

10 February 2026

Nemanja Popov (GOTBIT co-defendant) pleads guilty and is sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin.

TRM Labs research on Operation Token Mirrors

30 March 2026

DOJ publicly announces the consolidated Operation Token Mirrors charges against ten foreign nationals across four firms, including the March 2025 NDCA indictment naming Sofronov.

DOJ USAO-NDCA press release

24 September 2026

Ian Sofronov has not been arrested as of this date. The criminal case against him (USA v. Tsao et al., No. 25-cr-00082) remains open in the Northern District of California. No extradition proceedings have been publicly reported.

Available public reporting as of investigation date
Provenance & Audit Trail

Decision Log

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 9 of 11 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

model: claude-sonnet-4-6

generated: 9/24/2026, 12:11:18 PM

last updated: 9/24/2026, 4:22:31 PM

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