US Extradites Russian for Money Laundering, Running $4B BTC Exchange

The Russian resident Alexander Vinnik has been extradited to the US and facing charges in the US Northern District Court of California. He is accused of operating a cryptocurrency exchange and money laundering. Accused of Profiting From An Extortion Scheme The Russian national, Alexander Vinnik, ran an unlicensed money service in the US. According to the Justice Department, he operated a cryptocurrency exchange called BTC-e and transacted with hackers, identity thieves, and drug traffickers. In 2017, Vinnik was arrested in Greece and extradited to France. Vinnik received a five-year sentence in 2020. In 2017, the Treasury Department assessed a $100 million civil penalty against the crypto exchange and a $12 million fee against Vinnik. Vinnik is facing serious charges in the US Northern District Court of California. The extradition displays how US prosecutors have maintained to pursue high-profile Russian cybercrime suspects in times when cooperation with Moscow is insanely low. This was a major high for the US law enforcement officials who were in a high-stake extradition fight with Russia to gain custody of Vinnik. BTC-e Collected More Than $4 Billion BTC-e is a cryptocurrency trading platform founded by Alexander Vinnik and Aleksandr Bilyuchenko in 2011. The US government seized the website of BTC-e in July 2017 when they charged Vinnik and BTC-e in a 21-count indictment for running an alleged international money laundering ...