Russian Vinnik, detained in Greece, admitted his guilt in the USA

Alexander Vinnik, who was detained in Greece, convicted in France and extradited to the United States, pleaded guilty to money laundering.

According to investigators, he was the operator of the BTC-e crypto exchange, which received funds from criminal activities, did not apply anti-money laundering rules and did not collect customer data.

How tells DW, A 44-year-old Russian man in the United States pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a statement posted May 3 on US Department of Justice website message.

Arkady Bukh, Vinnik's lawyer, told the RIA Novosti agency that the accused made a deal with the investigation: “admitted guilt to a limited number of articles.” According to the indictment, he faced life imprisonment, but the deal allowed him to reduce the term to a “single digit” number of years in prison behind bars.

In the United States, Vinnik is accused of money laundering from 2011 to 2017, during the period when he was the operator of the BTC-e crypto exchange. During this time, the exchange was used by more than a million clients who made transactions worth more than $9 billion, the US Department of Justice said in a statement. According to the indictment, the crypto exchange received funds from criminal activities, including ransomware attacks, hacks and other schemes, and Vinnik was directly responsible for losses of approximately $121 million.

The department's report also notes that the crypto exchange was not registered as a financial services company in the United States, did not apply know-your-customer rules or anti-money laundering rules, and did not collect customer data. In addition, Vinnik used shell companies to convert digital assets into fiat currency.

In 2017, the BTC-e exchange was closed, at the same time Vinnik arrested in Greece. As our publication reported, the Russian was detained by Greek police on the morning of July 25, while vacationing in one of the luxury hotels in Chalkidiki, where he arrived 10 days ago. Representatives of US law enforcement agencies took part in the arrest. During a search in his hotel room, which was rented by the family of Alexander Vinnik, 2 laptop computers, 4 tablets, 5 mobile phones, a router, a video camera, and 4 credit cards were seized.

Minister-Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Greece Oleg Bredikhin confirmed to the Russian Athens correspondent the fact of the detention of a Russian citizen, as well as the fact that the detention was made on the basis of a statement from the US Department of Justice. Alexander Vinnik was taken into custody in a correctional facility in the city of Thessaloniki and awaited a court decision there.

During the investigation, he denied that he was the operator of BTC-e, saying that he was just an employee of the exchange. Authorities in the United States, Russia and France sought his extradition. Vinnik was first sent to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering, after which he was sent back to Greece. Five years after Vinnik’s arrest, he was sent by plane from Greece to the United States.

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