The UK court has advanced the extradition process for Manpreet Kohli, former CEO of Saitama, to the United States. According to Reuters, Judge Samuel Goozee dismissed Kohli’s objections on August 19 and referred the case to the UK government to determine the next steps regarding the U.S. extradition request.
Kohli is still eligible to appeal, so his extradition has not been finalized. He is currently out on bail of £200,000, approximately $272,400. The report also notes that Kohli has not been convicted.
The extradition defense was not upheld.
Kohli previously opposed extradition, citing concerns about his mental health during detention in the United States and the potential risk of suicide. The judge determined that adequate safeguards in place during transfer and within the U.S. prison system were sufficient to mitigate the risk to an acceptable level, and therefore rejected this defense argument.
Prior to this development, the U.S. District Court in Boston issued an unfavorable ruling against Kohli earlier this month, rejecting his motion to dismiss the indictment. Kohli had argued that the Saitama tokens could not be classified as securities under U.S. law.
The United States accuses parties of token manipulation.
This case stems from a previous investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into crypto market manipulation. On October 9, 2024—two days after Kohli’s arrest in London—the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled charges under “Operation Token Mirrors,” alleging fraud and wash trading by the involved parties.
Wash trading refers to the repeated buying and selling of the same asset across multiple accounts, or coordinating with others to create false trading volume and market activity, without being driven by genuine demand.
Prosecutors allege profits of approximately $20 million.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 18 individuals, including Kohli, coordinated the purchase of tokens across multiple wallets and paid fees to ZM Quant and Gotbit to execute wash trades on multiple exchanges. Prosecutors also alleged that these executives privately sold their token holdings while publicly denying any sales, cashing out millions of dollars.
Prosecutors alleged that Kohli personally profited approximately $20 million. The report also noted that the market maker Gotbit later admitted to 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, was sentenced to eight months in prison.