The United States has agreed to release Russian national Alexander Vinnik, who was accused of major cybercrime operations, in return for American citizen Marc Fogel, according to a US official’s statement on Wednesday.
Fogel, who had been imprisoned since August 2021 by Russia, returned to American soil on Tuesday.
US national security adviser Mike Waltz said the exchange of Fogel was a “show of good faith” from Moscow and was a sign that ties between the US and Russia were heading in a direction which could usher in negotiations over the war in Ukraine.
Who is Alexander Vinnik?
Vinnik was the operator of BTC-e, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange platform. His arrest took place in 2017 in a northern Greek coastal village following US authorities’ request, facing allegations of laundering $4 billion through his exchange platform.
US investigators connected Vinnik to the Mt. Gox incident, a Japanese bitcoin exchange that ceased operations in 2014 after a security breach. The Justice Department stated that Vinnik acquired funds from the Mt. Gox breach and processed them through BTC-e and his San Francisco-based platform, Tradehill, Reuters reported.
Following extradition to France and subsequently to the United States, Vinnik admitted guilt to money laundering conspiracy charges in May 2024. He faced a potential 20-year sentence, with his sentencing postponed to June from January by a federal judge’s order.
The US Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California, reported that BTC-e handled transactions worth over $9 billion between 2011 and 2017, serving more than a million users globally, including many from the United States.
“BTC-e was one of the primary ways by which cyber criminals around the world transferred, laundered, and stored the criminal proceeds of their illegal activities,” as stated by the attorney’s office last year, noting the platform’s involvement with various criminal activities.
Court records indicate that US District Judge Susan Illston arranged a Tuesday afternoon status conference regarding Vinnik’s case, though the meeting’s specifics remain undisclosed.
Russian journalist Andrei Zakharov, author of a book about Vinnik, noted that the accused allegedly controlled 80,000 bitcoins taken from Mt. Gox in 2011, explaining Russia’s keen interest in his return.
“80 thousand bitcoins. 8 billion dollars. 2% of federal budget revenues for 2025. Welcome home!” Zakharov shared on Telegram.
