- US to release jailed BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik in a prisoner swap with Russia.
- Vinnik, arrested in 2017, is part of the exchange that saw Russia release jailed US schoolteacher Marc Fogel.
Alexander Vinnik, jailed in the US after being convicted on charges of money laundering, is being released as part of a prisoner swap.
The former operator of the Russian crypto exchange BTC-e will head to Russia after the Kremlin reportedly agreed to an exchange involving US national Marc Fogel.
According to the BBC, the White House confirmed the prisoner exchange,with Trump having spoken to Fogel.The schoolteacher left Russia on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Who is Vinnik?
Alexander Vinnik, 44, is a crypto kingpin that operated the Bitcoin exchange BTC-e. Authorities arrested Vinnik in 2017 in Greece, with the Department of Justice filing charges of money laundering involving nearly $4 billion.
According to prosecutors, Vinnik allowed cyber criminals to use BTC-e to launder and store proceeds of crimes, including crypto hacks, ransomware attacks and identity theft.
The Russian national’s reign at the helm of the exchange saw him promote the platform to perpetrators of these crimes. US authorities blamed him for the loss of $121 million.
Notably, New Zealand police also seized $90 million from the BTC-e operator.
Vinnik’s guilty plea in May 2024 meant he faced up to 20 years in prison.
The prisoner swap that sees him leave custody comes after his lawyers failed in a previous attempt to have included in other US-Russia prisoner exchanges. One such push involved the deal that saw Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter formerly imprisoned in Russia, released.
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