Greece has extradited a Russian cash launderer to the US, hours after his launch from a French jail, his lawyer stated Friday.
Zoe Konstantopoulou stated Alexander Vinnik “was loaded onto a non-public aircraft to the US” with out being allowed to lodge an asylum request in Greece.
A supply with information of the case in France stated Vinnik had been handed again to Greek authorities on Thursday afternoon, simply weeks after the Court docket of Cassation in Paris confirmed his five-year sentence for cash laundering.
Vinnik, 43, had been in French custody for the previous two years following his extradition from Greece.
The daddy-of-two has been the topic of an extended authorized wrangle between Greece, France, Russia and america.
Vinnik’s French lawyer, Frederic Belot, stated Washington appeared to have exerted vital stress to safe his extradition.
He stated his shopper was despatched to San Francisco through Boston and faces 55 years in jail within the US.
“After greater than 5 years of litigation… Vinnik was extradited to america yesterday to be held accountable for working BTC-e, a legal cryptocurrency change, which laundered greater than $4 billion of legal proceeds,” US Assistant Lawyer Normal Kenneth Well mannered stated in a Justice Division assertion.
In keeping with the indictment, BTC-e was a “vital cybercrime and on-line cash laundering entity”, which allowed customers to commerce with excessive ranges of anonymity and “developed a buyer base closely reliant on legal exercise.”
The Russian overseas ministry condemned the transfer, saying: “We’re outraged by the Greek authorities’ unfriendly actions” and pledging to face up for Vinnik’s pursuits.
“Russian diplomats will do every part doable to guard his official rights and pursuits.”
Vinnik was initially arrested in July 2017 within the northern Greek vacationer resort of Halkidiki. An extended judicial process adopted, with Greece sifting by the conflicting extradition requests earlier than deciding in favour of France.
A French courtroom in 2020 sentenced Vinnik to 5 years in jail for cash laundering however cleared him of an authentic cost of defrauding practically 200 folks utilizing ransomware. His sentence was confirmed by the French Court docket of Cassation in June.
A US indictment accuses Vinnik of 21 costs starting from identification theft and facilitating drug trafficking to cash laundering.
In Russia, he’s needed on lesser fraud costs involving simply 9,500 euros.
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