Key Points
- A judge in the UK has dismissed Manpreet Kohli's challenge against extradition to the U.S.
- Prosecutors claim Saitama executives inflated the token's trading activity through coordinated efforts.
- Kohli is currently on £200,000 bail and retains the option to appeal; he has not yet been convicted.
Manpreet Kohli, the former CEO of Saitama, has seen his extradition appeal to the United States rejected by a British judge, as he faces allegations related to a purported cryptocurrency market manipulation scheme.
As reported by Reuters, Judge Samuel Goozee made the ruling on August 19, forwarding the matter to the U.K. government to decide on the extradition request from the U.S. Kohli is free on bail set at £200,000 (approximately $272,400) and can still appeal this decision.
Myriad: Will Congress pass the Clarity Act? Click to make your prediction.Kohli faces multiple charges in the U.S. including wire fraud, market manipulation, conspiracy, and operating an unauthorized money-transmitting business. These charges are linked to Saitama, an Ethereum-based token that at one point had a market cap of $7.5 billion.
In his extradition defense, Kohli argued that U.S. authorities had not sufficiently addressed his mental health concerns and the risk of suicide if detained. However, Judge Goozee determined that the measures in place during his extradition and in U.S. prisons would mitigate those risks to an acceptable degree.
This ruling follows a separate decision in Boston, where a federal judge dismissed Kohli's motion to invalidate the indictment, which he claimed was based on the argument that Saitama could not be classified as a security under U.S. law.
Kohli's legal team has not provided immediate comments in response to inquiries from Decrypt.
The case is part of a broader investigation into alleged cryptocurrency market manipulation. On October 9, 2024, shortly after Kohli's arrest in London, the Justice Department announced charges related to “Operation Token Mirrors,” focusing on fraudulent practices and wash trading, which involves artificially inflating trading volume through coordinated transactions.
Wash trading is defined as repeatedly buying and selling the same asset to create the illusion of higher trading activity without actual market engagement, often using multiple accounts or collusion.
Myriad: Bitcoin next price move? Click to make your prediction.The Justice Department has indicated that Kohli and 17 others were involved in coordinating token purchases across various wallets and engaged ZM Quant and Gotbit to conduct wash trading on multiple exchanges. Prosecutors allege that while publicly denying the sale of their assets, the executives discreetly sold tokens worth millions. Kohli is believed to have profited around $20 million from these activities.
Gotbit later acknowledged its role in manipulating token prices and trading volumes for clients, including Saitama. In June 2025, Gotbit was ordered to forfeit $23 million, and its founder, Aleksei Andriunin, received an eight-month prison sentence.