Market Maker CLS Global Admits to Sham Trading of FBI’s AI Token

The UAE-based cryptocurrency market maker, CLS Global, has admitted to facilitating sham trading and market manipulation in favor of the NexFundAI token, created by the FBI to detect fraud. This was reported by the US Department of Justice.

As part of a deal with authorities, the company confirmed its involvement in providing services to attract investors. CLS Global will pay a fine of $428,059 and will have all its assets on the Bitcoin exchanges Binance and KuCoin confiscated.

The market maker has been placed on probation for three years, during which it is prohibited from engaging in cryptocurrency transactions on trading platforms accessible to US investors. CLS Global has committed to annually confirming to the SEC that its business practices comply with these restrictions.

A separate agreement with the Commission stipulates that the confiscated or paid funds by the company will also be credited to the regulator.

As part of a large-scale investigation into cryptocurrency market manipulation, FBI agents created an AI token based on Ethereum called NextFundAI (NEXF). It was used to “identify, prevent, and prosecute alleged fraudsters.”

In October 2024, the Bureau announced charges against 18 individuals and organizations in this case, including executives of market-making companies CLS Global, Gotbit, ZM Quant, MyTrad, and other projects.

More than $25 million in cryptocurrency was seized, and trading bots responsible for sham trading of approximately 60 digital assets were deactivated.