After years of extradition debates, Bitcoin (BTC) launderer Alexander Vinnik has finally been sentenced to five years in prison by a French court.
According to a December 7 report, Vinnik received a sentence to five years in prison for “money laundering as part of an organized criminal group and for providing false information about the origin of the profits”, in addition to a fine. 100,000 euros (or 121,000 US dollars)
According to reports from the BBC, the court partially dropped the charges related to the ransomware known as Locky. At press time, online reports do not specify whether Vinnik’s sentence is related to his alleged leading role in the now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e.
Vinnik formerly denied his involvement in BTC-e, claiming he was a simple employee. He said that his monthly salary in the BTC-e reached around 10,000 euros. Vinnik is allegedly behind an international money laundering scam that processed a figure that estimates more than $ 4 billion of capital flow through BTC-e.
Alias “Mr. Bitcoin” in the crypto world, Vinnik received extradition to France in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering.
French prosecutors say Vinnik was one of the creators of malicious software called “Locky” that was sent via email. If downloaded, the recipient’s data is encrypted, and they are asked to pay a ransom in bitcoin to release it.
A series of attacks of this type against French companies and organizations between 2016 and 2018 led to 20 victims paying ransom requests issued in bitcoin, one of the most used cryptocurrencies, through BTC-e, one of the biggest digital currency exchanges in the world.
At his trial, Vinnik’s main line of defense was that he was just a technical trader following the instructions of the directors of BTC-e.
The court convicted Vinnik of money laundering but found insufficient evidence to convict him of extortion, and he was arrested before the 10-year jail term and 750,000 euros in fines that prosecutors had requested.
One of his French lawyers, Ariane Zimra, said that his conviction for money laundering “does not make sense”, arguing that cryptocurrency is not legally considered money.
Timeline of Vinnik’s prosecution
In July 2017, Greek police arrested Vinnik during a vacation with his family in Ouranoupoli. It took about a two-year legal battle that has kept Vinnik in jail while the agreements regarding the extradition settled for good, and he received the proper criminal charges.
After his arrest, the U.S. filed an extradition request and appeared to do the process successfully by pushing for Vinnik’s transfer stateside. Officials in Moscow joined the fight by requesting Vinnik’s extradition to Russia in September of the same year.
By 2018, France also joined the contend, turning the wheel to the case and turning it into a diplomatic three-way tussle. There is also an assassination plot with suspected Russian criminals reportedly intended to prevent Vinnik’s return to Russia.
In 2019, Greek authorities finally agreed and moved forward in the case of extradition of Vinnik to France to await his trial. Vinnik’s new phase began with his extradition to France with leveled money laundering and conspiracy charges against him.
According to a December 7, 2020 report from the Novaya Gazeta, Vinnik has been sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering as part of an organized criminal group.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
