British Judge Rejects Former Saitama CEO's Extradition Challenge

A British judge has rejected former Saitama CEO Manpreet Kohli’s bid to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces charges tied to an alleged crypto market-manipulation scheme.

According to a report by Reuters, Judge Samuel Goozee rejected Kohli’s challenge on August 19 and sent the case to the U.K. government for a decision on the U.S. extradition request. Kohli can appeal the ruling, so his extradition is not yet final, and he remains free on £200,000, about $272,400, bail.

U.S. prosecutors have charged Kohli with wire fraud, market manipulation, related conspiracy offenses, and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The charges concern Saitama, an Ethereum-based token that once reached a reported market capitalization of $7.5 billion.

Kohli challenged extradition in part by arguing that U.S. authorities could not adequately address his mental health and risk of suicide in custody. Judge Goozee found that safeguards during his transfer and within the U.S. prison system could reduce that risk to an acceptable level.

The extradition decision follows a separate ruling in Boston earlier this month, where a federal judge rejected Kohli’s attempt to have the indictment dismissed after he argued that the Saitama token could not legally be classified as a security under U.S. law.

Attorneys for Kohli did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Decrypt.

Kohli’s case stems from an earlier case targeting alleged crypto market manipulation.

On October 9, 2024—two days after Kohli’s arrest in London—the Justice Department announced charges under “Operation Token Mirrors,” an investigation into alleged fraud and wash trading, or coordinated transactions designed to create artificial volume.

Wash trading refers to when the same asset is repeatedly bought and sold to inflate trading volume without any legitimate market activity using multiple accounts or by colluding with others.

According to the Justice Department, 18 individuals, including Kohli, coordinated token purchases across multiple wallets and paid ZM Quant and Gotbit to wash trade on several exchanges. Prosecutors allege that the executives publicly denied selling their holdings while privately offloading tokens for millions of dollars. They say Kohli made approximately $20 million.