Alexander Vinnik, released in the United States, has returned to Russia. What you need to know

After almost eight years of imprisonment in different countries, programmer Alexander Vinnik has returned to Moscow from the United States. He was exchanged for American Mark Fogel, convicted in Russia for drug trafficking. In what suspected Alexander Vinnik and how his imprisonment is connected with politics - in the material "Izvestia".

Detention of Vinnik

- Programmer Alexander Vinnik was detained in July 2017 at the request of the United States during a vacation with his wife and children on the Greek island of Halkidiki. The American side believed that the Russian was the co-founder of the largest at the time crypto exchange BTC-e (ceased to exist in 2017). Vinnik himself claimed that he was not the owner of the company, but was a technical specialist and advised clients.

- The United States made accusations against the Russian and the company BTC-e: according to American law enforcers, due to the conditions of anonymity, the platform could be used for drug trafficking and money laundering. Russian law enforcers also had claims to the exchange - in 2016, it was included in the register of banned in Russia.

One for one: the United States released Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik

Former BTC-e programmer to return home as part of prisoner exchange

- The United States accused Vinnik himself of improper business registration, cyber fraud, theft of users' personal data, laundering about $4 billion through the digital currency bitcoin, hacking the Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox and participation in drug trafficking - and demanded the extradition of the Russian to the United States.

- Vinnik's extradition was also requested by Russia, where a case of embezzlement of more than 600 thousand rubles and fraud worth 750 million rubles was filed against him. The programmer declared his readiness to serve his sentence in Russia, but his opinion was not taken into account. The fate of the Russian depended on the decision of the Greek Ministry of Justice.

- While waiting for the decision of the Greek authorities, Vinnik spent 30 months in the Athens prison Koridallos, while the term of pre-trial detention in Greece can not exceed 18 months. No charges were ever brought against the Russian. In October 2019, a court in Thessaloniki ordered the extradition of the Russian to the United States, but after an appeal, the Greek Supreme Court ordered Vinnik's extradition to Russia.

French conclusion

- Sending Alexander Vinnik back to his homeland was prevented by the intervention of France, which accused the programmer of fraud against French citizens, identity theft and extortion. Since under EU law, extradition to an EU member state did not require the approval of the Greek justice minister, the lower court in Thessaloniki ruled on December 19, 2019 to extradite the Russian to France. The prisoner was handed over to French authorities on the same day.

- In December 2020, a correctional court in Paris sentenced Vinnik to five years in prison and a €100,000 fine for aggravated money laundering. In the same year, his wife died - the Russian was not allowed to say goodbye to her.

- Appeal court decision on June 24, 2021 Alexander Vinnik was acquitted of 19 charges due to lack of physical evidence, the requirement of a fine was canceled, but the sentence of imprisonment for five years remained in force.

The case is political

- After being released from prison in France on August 4, 2022, Vinnik was extradited to the United States. According to his mother Vera Vinnik, the process was more like a kidnapping. And the very next day the Russian appeared before an American court. His interests were represented by a public defender.

- Vinnik himself and his lawyers initially suspected that the investigation related to the work of the platform BTC-e, is of a political nature. In the United States believed that the cryptocurrency exchange was used by hackers who allegedly conducted cyberattacks on the National Committee of the Democratic Party of the United States. The charges against the hacker group became part of the case of "Russian interference in the election", which was investigated by special prosecutor Robert Mueller - no evidence of interference was found.

- According to the sum of all the charges brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Vinnik faced up to 55 years in prison, but he did not plead guilty. There has been no visible movement in the case all this time, and the lack of an indictment was the main obstacle to Vinnik's participation in the prisoner exchange procedure between the U.S. and Russia. Meanwhile, in prison, he began to fall ill, losing his memory and vision.

- In June 2023, the U.S. classified the investigation materials against Vinnik, and last May the Russian made a deal and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money, reducing the possible sentence to 10 years in prison. The court was due to announce a final decision in the case in January 2025, but the judge postponed sentencing without explanation.

- In February 2025, negotiations between Russia and the United States resulted in a decision to return Russian Alexander Vinnik to his home country: this time, the lack of a verdict did not prevent an exchange between the countries. In turn, Russia handed over to the U.S. former diplomat Mark Vogel, who was serving a sentence for drug trafficking: he returned to the U.S. on February 11. Later it became known that Vinnik, as part of the release deal, should transfer to the United States digital assets worth $100 million.

A mysterious figure: who is Mark Vogel

The Kremlin said the U.S. would release a Russian in exchange for the American

- Vinnik was not the only Russian programmer whose extradition was sought by the United States in the period from 2016 to 2018. Thus, from the territories of European and Asian countries, Washington sought the extradition of at least ten Russians, whom the United States accused of interfering in American elections, hacking attacks or suspected of illegal activities with the use of cryptocurrencies. Some of them were returned to Russia: Stanislav Lisov, Yuri Martyshev, Roman Seleznev and others.