Gotbit Does Silicon Valley: Lime Chairman Brad Bao Slapped with $157M RICO Slammer Over Cere's 99.8% Token尸 Collapse

Ah, Gotbit—the wash-trading firm that gave crypto its most loathed villain and apparently decided that Silicon Valley was next on the roadmap for expansion. Lime executive chairman Brad Bao is now the proud recipient of two federal racketeering lawsuits totaling $157 million over alleged fraud at Cere Network, where insiders allegedly dumped $41.78 million in CERE tokens while retail investors watched their holdings evaporate into near nothingness. Because nothing says "legitimate Web3 infrastructure" like coordinated token dumps within hours of launch.

The civil complaints, filed in the Northern District of California, trace their roots back to Gotbit Ltd. founder Aleksei Andryunin's guilty plea to wire-fraud conspiracy. He served eight months in prison and forfeited $23 million in crypto after admitting to fabricating trading volume to artificially pump token prices—the same playbook allegedly deployed on Cere's November 2021 launch day. Apparently the Gotbit method has gone viral, spreading from obscure altcoins to the executive suite of companies that bring you electric scooters to avoid walking.

According to court filings, Cere raised approximately $42.96 million from more than 5,000 investors, many through token sales on Republic under Regulation D. The pitch? A legitimate Web3 infrastructure project with insider holdings locked under vesting schedules. The reality? Plaintiffs allege Jin and associates moved roughly $41.78 million worth of CERE to exchanges within hours of launch, while Bao supposedly provided the Silicon Valley credibility to reassure investors everything was on the up-and-up. "Don't worry, I have a Lime scooter, therefore I'm trustworthy" might be the most expensive tagline in crypto history.

For those keeping score at home, CERE briefly touched around $0.47 in early November 2021. Today it sits at roughly $0.00061—a drawdown north of 99.8% that would make even the most degnerate degen flinch. We're not talking about your standard "diamond hands" energy here. We're talking about a chart that makes Bitconned look like a success story.

The $157 million combined damages come from two separate suits. Goopal Digital Limited, a Hong Kong-linked investor group, is demanding $100 million. San Francisco investor Josef Qu wants $57 million for allegedly never receiving his Simple Agreement for Future Tokens allocation of 27,777,778 CERE tokens—while insiders apparently moved their own tokens within hours of launch. The classic "SAFT for you, dumps for me" strategy, now available as legal exhibit A through D.

Bao's alleged role goes beyond just lending his reputation. The complaints claim he received director's fees and early CERE allocation, approved financial transfers into accounts controlled by Jin, and used his Lime cred to raise capital. The Qu complaint even throws in "control person" claims under Section 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act, attempting to pin liability on Bao for exercising authority over an entity allegedly violating federal securities laws—even if he wasn't personally executing every part of the scheme. Turns out having a LinkedIn profile that screams "serious businessman" doesn't make you immune to federal racketeering allegations.

But wait, there's more. Both suits also detail approximately $16.6 million in Cere treasury funds allegedly lost in unauthorized DeFi bets: roughly $6.51 million on Mochi Protocol, $3.27 million in a CVX/ETH liquidity pool, $780,000 on Maple Finance, and $345,000 in the failed Neutrino USDN system. Because apparently, when you're running a $42 million token raise, YOLOing into random DeFi protocols without investor consent is just good business practice. Call it venture funding meets casino energy, with extra serving of fiduciary duty violations.

The filings paint Jin as a serial founder with a concerning pattern: launch venture, raise capital under false pretenses, extract value, move on. This allegedly traces from mobile-gaming firm Funler in 2016 to education-blockchain venture Bitlearn in 2018 and finally Cere in 2019. Plaintiffs say he's already launched a new AI company, CEF AI Inc., allegedly funded with Cere scheme proceeds, now facing asset-freeze requests covering corporate accounts, personal wallets, and real estate in Germany