4 months ago
Alexander Vinnik, the jailed erstwhile relation of erstwhile mighty bitcoin speech BTC-e, is being released from U.S. custody arsenic portion of a captive speech with Russia.
Vinnik, 44, is being swapped with jailed American teacher Marc Fogel, who returned to the U.S. past nighttime aft negotiators struck a astonishment breakthrough with the Kremlin. It had not instantly been wide who was connected the different broadside of the deal.
But BTC-e was 1 of the aboriginal exchanges that popularized the buying and selling of the world's astir fashionable integer asset. It had implicit 1 cardinal customers and moved implicit $9 cardinal of transactions betwixt 2011 and 2017.
Its popularity besides fostered a thriving transgression underground who relied connected it to determination successful and retired of ill-gotten bitcoin proceeds, according to U.S. prosecutors. They accused Vinnik of operating BTC-e "with the intent to promote" cause dealers, wealth launders and different cybercriminals, and caused the nonaccomplishment of $121 million.
Vinnik was arrested successful Greece successful 2017 and yet extradited to the U.S. He pled blameworthy to wealth laundering conspiracy successful 2024 and faced a maximum of 20 years successful prison.
His lawyers had antecedently lobbied unsuccessfully for his inclusion successful different high-profile U.S.-Russia captive exchanges, similar past year's woody implicit formerly jailed Wall Street Journal newsman Evan Gershkovich.
English (US) 