FBI's Fake Crypto Sting Leads to 18 Charged in Market Manipulation Case

The FBI created a cryptocurrency to expose fraudulent market activities, resulting in charges against individuals and firms for wash trading and pump-and-dump schemes.

Operation Token Mirrors, an FBI sting operation, involved creating a fake crypto token, NexFundAI, to catch fraudsters in the act of market manipulation.
Eighteen individuals and companies, including Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade, have been charged with fraud and wash trading.
The operation led to the seizure of over $25 million in cryptocurrency and the deactivation of trading bots manipulating around 60 cryptocurrencies.
Some defendants have already pleaded guilty or agreed to do so, with arrests made in the United States, the UK, and Portugal.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed related civil complaints, further emphasizing the crackdown on crypto market fraud.

South China Morning Post