France expelled Russian crypto entrepreneur Aleksandr Vinnik, who was then sent to Greece. Greece could hand Vinnik over the US, according to his lawyer.
Russian cryptocurrency entrepreneur Aleksandr Vinnik has been arrested and sent to Greece. His French lawyer informed the Russian media that Vinnik had been charged with fraud in Russia as well as the USA. Frederic Belo thinks the move may be part of a complex plan to ultimately extradite his client from America.
Vinnik is a Russian blockchain expert who was detained in Greece in 2017. He was wanted by the US to be charged with laundering $4 billion to $9 billion via the no longer operational BTC-e cryptocurrency trading platform.
In 2019, the Greek Supreme Court ordered Vinnik’s extradition to France, where he was also accused of money laundering. Vinnik was found guilty of the charges and sentenced for five years. His jail term ended in late June, but the French authorities refused to let him walk free, despite his lawyer’s pleas.
The French authorities were alleged to have planned to “secretly”Belo said that he tried to hand him over to Greece late June, but that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), blocked his return.
According to the lawyer, Vinnik was taken on Thursday aboard a plane bound for Greece. Vinnik was deported back to Greece after the US pulled Vinnik’s extradition request, filed at the French authorities in mid-June. Belo says that Vinnik’s extradition request was part of a larger scheme. “deceptive maneuver”This would see the Russian entrepreneur eventually handed to the US.
“Greece might potentially extradite Vinnik to the US, to California, San Francisco on short notice,” Belo said.
If Athens grants Washington’s request for extradition, Vinnik may face up to 55 years behind bars. Vinnik has claimed that he did not commit any wrongdoing and said the US had set up his case.
Vinnik told his lawyers earlier that he was open to being extradited to Russia to try for his crimes and to have his case heard there. He said that he is willing to cooperate with Russian authorities. Moscow authorities believe he illegally obtained 750million rubles ($ 12.2 Million) through a bribery scheme. “computer information fraud”Stealing 600,000. Rubles (roughly $9,780)
Vinnik stated that he was able to shed light on crimes related to cryptocurrency in 2018. He also claimed that revealing such information could place his life at risk.
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