Alexander Vinnik, the former operator of BTC-e, has been returned to Russia in a prisoner exchange for American teacher Marc Fogel, multiple news outlets reported.
Vinnik, who co-founded the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange in 2011, had been in U.S. custody on charges of money laundering and operating an unlicensed financial service.
The exchange comes after Vinnik was extradited from Greece to the United States in 2022, following a five-year legal battle involving France, Greece, and Russia, each seeking his extradition.
Initially convicted by a French court in 2020 for money laundering and sentenced to five years in prison, he later faced U.S. charges linked to his role in BTC-e. The exchange was accused of facilitating the laundering of over $4 billion, including funds connected to the infamous Mt. Gox hack.
Vinnik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in May 2024 before a San Francisco federal judge. Despite this, his transfer to Russia was arranged as part of a deal approved by President Donald Trump.
The U.S. government sought to hold Vinnik accountable for a wide range of cybercrimes, including alleged ties to ransomware operations and identity theft.
The American exchanged for Vinnik, Marc Fogel, arrived back in the U.S. on Tuesday night. Fogel, a former teacher, had been held in Russia for three and a half years on charges related to marijuana possession.
BTC-e, once among the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, operated with little regulatory oversight, making it a preferred platform for illicit transactions. The U.S. Department of Justice previously linked the exchange to various criminal enterprises, including cybercriminals laundering stolen Bitcoin.
The development comes two months after Polish authorities arrested Dmitry V., the former head of Russia-based crypto exchange WEX, in Warsaw following a U.S. Department of Justice extradition request.
WEX, the successor to BTC-e, was once Russia’s largest crypto exchange, processing over $9 billion in transactions for more than a million users, including many in the U.S. The platform, notorious for its lack of identity verification, was linked to funds from major crypto hacks, including the breach. Approximately $450 million remains missing from WEX’s operations.
Furthermore, US authorities said that Russian IT specialist Alexander Vinnikwas the brain behind the collapse of Japan-based bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, after which he laundered the stolen monies through BTC-e and another San Francisco-based exchange called Tradehill.
