Alexander Vinnik, the former imprisoned operator of Once Mighty Bitcoin Exchange BTC-E, is being released from the custody of the United States as part of an exchange of prisoners with Russia.
Vinnik, 44, is being exchanged with the jailed American teacher Marc Fogel, who returned to the United States last night after the negotiators reached a surprise advance with the Kremlin. It was not clear immediately who was on the other side of the deal.
But BTC-E was one of the first exchanges that popularized the purchase and sale of the most popular digital asset in the world. He had more than 1 million customers and moved more than $ 9 billion between 2011 and 2017.
His popularity also encouraged an underground prosperous who depended on him to move on Bitcoin’s income obtained, according to US prosecutors. They accused Vinnik of operating BTC-E “with the intention of promoting” drug traffickers, money washing machines and other cybercriminals, and caused the loss of $ 121 million.
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and finally extradited to the United States, he declared himself guilty of money laundering conspiracy in 2024 and faced a maximum of 20 years in prison.
His lawyers had previously pressed without success for their inclusion in other exchanges of high profile high -profile prisoners, such as former Wall Street Journal reporter last year, Evan Gershkovich.
