The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has taken action against rogue crypto market makers. On March 30th, the DoJ announced the indictment of 10 executives and employees of four market makers: Gotbit, Vortex, Contrarian, and Antier.
The indictment alleges that these individuals conspired to artificially inflate the trading volume and price of cryptocurrencies, and then profited from selling them at inflated prices to unsuspecting investors. This is a serious issue, as some market makers can manipulate trading volumes and prices of tokens on exchanges.
The DoJ used a strategy involving fake tokens created by the FBI to smoke out the defendants. The market makers agreed to offer 'manipulation-as-a-service' to pump and dump these tokens on retail traders. If found guilty, the defendants could face up to 20 years in jail.