The arrested operator of BTC-e Alexander Vinnik finally is extradited to France

According to the NewsBTC, the Greek court upheld the request for the extradition of A. Vinnik directly to France –not to the United States or Russia, which also "fought" for the Russian citizen arrested.

A year after the arrest, Alexander Vinnik, the former operator of cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, will be extradited to France. Such a decision was taken by the Greek court. The Vinnik's lawyers are planning to appeal to the Supreme Court of Greece, which will consider the case in the coming days.

We remind you that Vinnik was arrested in Greece on 25 July 2017, at the request of the US authorities. At that time, the Greek police reported that since 2011, the Russian citizen had been leading the criminal group “which has operated one of the largest criminal websites in the world” and has dealt with money laundering with bitcoins.

The Office of the Attorney of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California confirmed that cryptocurrency exchange and its administrator were accused of violation of point 21 about the use of a money laundering scheme, which also included theft of funds at the MtGox Stock Exchange.

The US Department of Finance's Financial Crime Investigation at that time imposed a $ 110 million BTC for a deliberate violation of the Money Laundering Law. Alexander Vinnik has to pay a penalty of $ 12 million. But if his fault is fully proved, he can get the maximum sentence – 55 years in a US prison.

Meanwhile, the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation has also sent a request for the rextradition of Vinnik, as a large-scale fraud case is being prosecuted in his home country. Despite this, a request for extradition was also sent a few days ago by France and its request, which was dealt with expeditiously, has been approved.