- The United States will release BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik, who is currently imprisoned, as part of a prisoner swap with Russia.
- Vinnik, arrested in 2017, is included in the exchange that led to Russia freeing U.S. teacher Marc Fogel, who had been detained there.
Alexander Vinnik, serving a sentence in the United States after being convicted on money laundering charges, will be released under a prisoner swap agreement between Washington and Moscow.
The former operator of the Russian crypto exchange BTC-e is set to return to Russia after the Kremlin agreed to an exchange that involved U.S. citizen Marc Fogel.
The White House has confirmed the prisoner swap, and former President Donald Trump spoke with Fogel. According to reports, the teacher departed Russia on Tuesday, 11 February.
Who is Vinnik?
Alexander Vinnik, 44, is a cryptocurrency operator who ran the Bitcoin exchange BTC-e. He was arrested in Greece in 2017, and the U.S. Department of Justice later charged him with money laundering tied to nearly $4 billion.
U.S. prosecutors alleged that Vinnik allowed cybercriminals to use BTC-e to launder and store proceeds from a range of crimes, including cryptocurrency hacks, ransomware attacks, and identity theft.
Authorities said the Russian national promoted the platform to those committing such crimes, and U.S. officials attributed losses of about $121 million to his activities.
New Zealand police also seized funds connected to the case, confiscating $90 million linked to BTC-e operations. Vinnik’s guilty plea in May 2024 exposed him to a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The prisoner swap that will see him leave U.S. custody follows earlier legal efforts by Vinnik’s lawyers to be included in other exchanges between the United States and Russia, which were unsuccessful.
One prior effort sought to include him in the arrangement that resulted in the release of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who had previously been detained in Russia.