Cryptocurrency

BTC-e founder accused of money laundering seeks to be freed in prisoner swap

BTC-e co-founder Alexander Vinnik hopes to release him through a prisoner exchange. wall street journal report May 24th.

Vinnik seeks release by US

Lawyers argued in court that Vinnik should be allowed to respond to charges and claim participation in a prisoner exchange.

Vinnik is a Russian national and is currently detained in the United States. The US is reportedly willing to trade Vinnik for US basketball player Britney Griner, who was previously detained in Russia on drug charges. However, Greiner was eventually released in 2022 in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The U.S. Department of Justice originally indicted Vinnik in 2017 for allegedly engaging in money laundering. The agency also said Vinnik’s exchange, BTC-e, aided ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes and drug trafficking.

Founded in 2011, BTC-e was suspended by US authorities in July 2017 following the arrest and seizure of several exchange staff.

Vinnik pleaded not guilty to the U.S. accusations and denied he had any authority to control the exchange’s direction, according to sources. wall street journal.

Previous detention history in Europe

Despite the fact that the United States announced indictments against Vinnik years ago, he was not extradited to the United States until August 2022.

Vinnik was first arrested in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States and then extradited to France in 2020, where he was acquitted of ransomware charges but convicted of money laundering charges. He was sentenced to five years in prison in France.

Russia also submitted an extradition request while Mr Vinnik was in custody, but it was unsuccessful.

A post by a BTC-e founder accused of money laundering seeking release in a prisoner exchange first appeared on CryptoSlate.

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