Alexander Vinnik, the former operator of crypto exchange BTC-e who pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2024, will reportedly be freed as part of a deal between the US and Russian governments.
According to a Feb. 12 Wall Street Journal report, US authorities will surrender Vinnik as part of a deal in which schoolteacher Marc Fogel was released from Russian custody. The BTC-e operator pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges in May 2024, which involved him illegally moving funds through BTC-e, resulting in roughly $121 million in losses.
Fogel, who had been teaching at the Anglo-American School of Moscow, had been in Russian custody since 2021 after being arrested for illegal possession of cannabis at the airport. He returned to the US on Feb. 11 after his release.
Officials will reportedly release another Russian national, but it’s unclear at the time of publication whether any additional US citizens will also be repatriated. Several US nationals remain in Russia, facing various questionable criminal charges. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump was “committed to bringing all of them home.”
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Vinnik was extradited from Greece to the US in August 2022 after a 2017 arrest. His lawyers had reportedly been negotiating with Russian officials amid US basketball star Brittney Griner’s arrest in Russia over drug-related charges. In that case, the US government arranged for the release of “Lord of War” arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for Griner.
One of the earliest crypto exchanges
During Vinnik’s time operating BTC-e between 2011 and 2017, the exchange processed more than $9 billion in transactions and had more than 1 million users globally. He could have faced up to 20 years in prison at sentencing.
BTC-e, which has been shut down since 2017, was connected to the hack of Mt. Gox, resulting in one of the largest thefts of Bitcoin (BTC) at the time. The defunct exchange only in 2024 began repaying creditors for the loss of their funds.
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