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A Russian with ties to crypto will be released from US prison in an exchange after he was arrested in 2017 for laundering money through Bitcoin. Alexander Vinnik was found guilty on 21 counts surrounding the crime and shuffled between France, Greece, and eventually the US to await sentencing in 2022.
The exchange was to release Marc Fogel. A teacher from Pennsylvania, Fogel was sentenced to 14 years in prison for entering Russia with 17 grams of medical cannabis.
Another prisoner will also be exchanged for Fogel’s release, but this hasn’t been confirmed. Fogel has re-entered the country and has met President Donald Trump.
Vinnik was convicted after the exchange he worked for, BTC-e, was regularly used by criminals. It’s estimated that Vinnik had laundered around $4 billion during his stint at the company. The US claims he could have been responsible for a loss of around $121 million thanks to promoting cyber attacks and other schemes.
If he hadn’t been exchanged, it was likely that Vinnik would have been sentenced up to 20 years in prison. He plead guilty during the case. Originally, Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017. He went on a three-day hunger strike over this and eventually was extradited to France in 2020.
Vinnik was also found to be connected to a $90 million seizure in New Zealand after law enforcement found he had previously registered the company WME Capital Management.
BTC-e’s domain was eventually seized by the US government. As of today, it remains offline.
Russian crypto exchange linked to released prisoner
It isn’t confirmed, but reports indicate that the Russian hacking group, Fancy Bear, used the exchange for its activities. According to CrowdStrike, the group might be involved with the Russian military, as the group tends to target governments and defense contractors.
One recent report, dating to November last year, found that Fancy Bear had attacked and breached a US organization. This was done through a “Nearest Neighbor” attack, which uses “close proximity to their intended target” to access the data they need.
Featured image: White House
