Alexander Vinnik Facеs Trial In France For Laundering 300K BTC

Alexander Vinnik faces trial in France according to the latest Court order, for laundering 300,000 Bitcoins through the crypto exchange BTC-e. Following our latest Bitcoin scam news, we find out more about the court decision.

The Russian National accused of laundering 300,000 BTC Alexander Vinnik faces a trial in France first. According to the news Agency France-Presse, the Paris Judge ordered the Russian national to stand trial for extortion, criminal association, money laundering and fraudulently accessing data and modifying it in a data processing system.

The AFP stated that the French authorities accused Vinnik of defrauding more than 100 people out of $160 million between 2016 and 2018 which gave him the nickname Mr.Bitcoin. Vinnik is accused of laundering 300,000 BTC which is more than $3.4 billion at press time in the course of six years over the crypto exchange BTC-e. He was arrested during a vacation in Greece in 2017 when he got indicted to the United States and extradited to France back in January.

The Russian national previously requested to be extradited in his home country where he would face lesser charges that involve defrauding victims out of $11,000. After the trials in France ends, Vinnik could be returned to Greece to face extradition to the United States where the authorities want to question him regarding his connection to the popular Mt.Gox hack.

As previously reported, The New Zealand police force has recovered $90 million in assets that belonged to the alleged bitcoin fraudster and launderer Alexander Vinnik. The New Zealand police recovered $90 million connected in the case against the alleged Bitcoin money launderer Alexander Vinnik. According to Jared Savage at New Zealand Herald, the police Asset Recovery Unit froze more than $90 million controlled by a group connected to the investigation of Vinnnik. The police Commissioner Andrew Coster said that the local authorities were coordinating with the United States Internal Revenue Service to address the lost funds. The money recovered will “likely reflect the profit gained from the victimization of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people globally as a result of cybercrime and organized crime” as Coster said.

The many associates that Vinnik had, tried to reopen the BTC-E exchange under the name WEX but the new exchange also got shut down in 2018 for insolvency. The BTC-E founder is only one of the few founders of the exchange that operated from 2011 until 2017 when the FBI tried to shut it down.