Russian national Alexander Vinnik, previously convicted for running a multi-billion-dollar money-laundering operation through his BTC-e crypto exchange, has been released in a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States.
In return, Moscow freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who had been detained on drug charges.
Vinnik’s Role in BTC-e and Legal Troubles
Vinnik operated the BTC-e platform from 2011 to 2017 when he was arrested by police in Greece at the request of American law enforcement agencies.
According to the U.S. Justice Department, the exchange processed transactions worth more than $9 billion across six years, much of which was allegedly tied to crimes such as ransomware attacks, drug trafficking, and identity theft.
Authorities claim that BTC-e’s lack of anti-money laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) policies made it attractive to cybercriminals.
Vinnik was extradited to France in 2020 and sentenced to five years for money laundering. He was later
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