- Alexander Vinnik has lost his appeal against his five year sentence for money laundering
- Vinnik operated the founded the BTC-e exchange which laundered some $4 billion in stolen bitcoin
- Vinnik still faces extradition to the U.S. or Russia once the French have finished with him
Alexander Vinnik has lost an appeal against the five-year prison sentence imposed on him by a French court last year. Vinnik, the founder of BTC-e who was the object of a two-year international battle for his extradition, was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering by a Paris court in December. With the appeal now rejected, Vinnik faces serving his term in a French prison while a battle between the U.S. and Russia will continue in the background for the right to extradite him once he has served his time.
Vinnik’s Rollercoaster Ride
Vinnik’s story is a rollercoaster ride that takes in Mt. Gox, Silk Road, a hunger strike, a poisoning attempt, and a battle between three countries for the right to prosecute him. He founded cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e in 2011, the exchange which blockchain records show received and laundered bitcoin from Mt. Gox and Silk Road. The collapse of Mt. Gox led U.S. authorities to BTC-e and then to Vinnik, leading to his arrest in Greece on behalf of U.S. authorities in 2017.
Vinnik’s arrest led to a battle between Russia, France, and the U.S. to extradite him on various financial crimes, with Greek courts rubber stamping extraditions then overruling them on multiple occasions until he finally left for France in early 2020. While in a Greek prison, where he went on hunger strike over the extradition mess, Vinnik was subjected to an alleged poisoning plot from Russian criminal gangs, but Greek prison officials prevented any attack taking place.
Russia or America Awaits
Vinnik was tried and convicted of money laundering in Paris in early December last year, although he was acquitted of two other charges. Following the collapse of the appeal Vinnik’s team can still appeal to the Court of Cassation (the French version of the Supreme Court) which they allegedly plan to do.
Whatever happens to Vinnik, whether his sentence is commuted or served, he still faces the unappealing prospect of extradition to the U.S. or Russia. Unless this is decided while he is behind bars in France there is a strong possibility that this will be another months’ or even years’ long battle as the two superpowers lock horns over who gets to charge Vinnik next.
