"Cryptocurrency King": Who is Alexander Vinnik, who was released from prison in the USA
Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2025 3:21 am
In the RIA Novosti article about Alexander Vinnik, who will be released by the US in exchange for Mark Vogel.
Who is Alexander Vinnik
REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Photo - © REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Alexander Vinnik was born in Kurgan on August 16, 1979. After finishing high school, he moved to Moscow. Here he took part in the creation of the website "Prazdnikovedenie.ru", which posted information about various holidays in different countries of the world. Then Vinnik was involved in other Internet projects: in 2011, for example, he began working on the Internet platform for trading currencies and cryptocurrencies BTS-E. Later, he serviced transactions between electronic systems, earning commissions.
The growing popularity of the BTS-E exchange, one of whose founders is Vinnik, soon led to problems. In 2016, the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg imposed sanctions on it and added it to the list of prohibited resources. Later, after the arrest of Alexander Vinnik, the exchange was completely closed.
Why Vinnik was arrested
Photo - © REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis
In 2017, Alexander Vinnik flew to Greece with his family for a vacation. That's where he was detained at the request of the United States. The San Francisco prosecutor's office charged him with 21 counts, including laundering $4 billion (data varies: from $4 to $9 billion) obtained through criminal means through BTC, cyber fraud, theft of personal data, hacking the Japanese exchange Mt.Gox, which provoked its bankruptcy, as well as participation in drug trafficking - and this is not the entire list. The Russian himself denied guilt and stated that he only consulted the exchange.
The US wasn't the only one with a grudge against Vinnik. Russia accused him of embezzlement and fraud, while France accused him of money laundering and extortion through the Locky virus he distributed.
In Greece, he was in solitary confinement in a pretrial detention center in Thessaloniki. To attract the attention of Russian media, Vinnik repeatedly went on hunger strikes. In addition, his el salvador mobile database health began to deteriorate due to his diet, Vinnik complained of frequent headaches, so he tried to get his lawyers to release him under house arrest. In the pretrial detention center, he was visited by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, after which he stopped going on hunger strikes. Despite numerous requests, his extradition to Russia was not carried out. In 2018, Vinnik reported an assassination attempt being prepared against him in prison.
In Russia, Vinnik was accused of cyber fraud worth 750 million rubles and arrested in absentia in 2018. While he was in Greece, he claimed that he agreed to return to his homeland and appear in court here .
In 2020, Alexander Vinnik was transferred to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of €100,000. In addition, the prosecutor requested 10 years in prison , claiming that Vinnik is an “international pirate.”
In 2022, Vinnik was transferred to the United States , where he was held in a San Francisco prison. His lawyer, Frederic Belo, appealed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to assist in Vinnik's exchange.
Two years later, in May 2024, Vinnik pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He admitted to conspiracy to launder money. He would have been sentenced in June 2025, and faced up to 200 years in prison .
Who is Alexander Vinnik
REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Photo - © REUTERS/Costas Baltas
Alexander Vinnik was born in Kurgan on August 16, 1979. After finishing high school, he moved to Moscow. Here he took part in the creation of the website "Prazdnikovedenie.ru", which posted information about various holidays in different countries of the world. Then Vinnik was involved in other Internet projects: in 2011, for example, he began working on the Internet platform for trading currencies and cryptocurrencies BTS-E. Later, he serviced transactions between electronic systems, earning commissions.
The growing popularity of the BTS-E exchange, one of whose founders is Vinnik, soon led to problems. In 2016, the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg imposed sanctions on it and added it to the list of prohibited resources. Later, after the arrest of Alexander Vinnik, the exchange was completely closed.
Why Vinnik was arrested
Photo - © REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis
In 2017, Alexander Vinnik flew to Greece with his family for a vacation. That's where he was detained at the request of the United States. The San Francisco prosecutor's office charged him with 21 counts, including laundering $4 billion (data varies: from $4 to $9 billion) obtained through criminal means through BTC, cyber fraud, theft of personal data, hacking the Japanese exchange Mt.Gox, which provoked its bankruptcy, as well as participation in drug trafficking - and this is not the entire list. The Russian himself denied guilt and stated that he only consulted the exchange.
The US wasn't the only one with a grudge against Vinnik. Russia accused him of embezzlement and fraud, while France accused him of money laundering and extortion through the Locky virus he distributed.
In Greece, he was in solitary confinement in a pretrial detention center in Thessaloniki. To attract the attention of Russian media, Vinnik repeatedly went on hunger strikes. In addition, his el salvador mobile database health began to deteriorate due to his diet, Vinnik complained of frequent headaches, so he tried to get his lawyers to release him under house arrest. In the pretrial detention center, he was visited by the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation Tatyana Moskalkova, after which he stopped going on hunger strikes. Despite numerous requests, his extradition to Russia was not carried out. In 2018, Vinnik reported an assassination attempt being prepared against him in prison.
In Russia, Vinnik was accused of cyber fraud worth 750 million rubles and arrested in absentia in 2018. While he was in Greece, he claimed that he agreed to return to his homeland and appear in court here .
In 2020, Alexander Vinnik was transferred to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of €100,000. In addition, the prosecutor requested 10 years in prison , claiming that Vinnik is an “international pirate.”
In 2022, Vinnik was transferred to the United States , where he was held in a San Francisco prison. His lawyer, Frederic Belo, appealed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to assist in Vinnik's exchange.
Two years later, in May 2024, Vinnik pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. He admitted to conspiracy to launder money. He would have been sentenced in June 2025, and faced up to 200 years in prison .