According to a U.S. official, the Russian co-founder of a well-known bitcoin exchange will reportedly be freed from U.S. detention on Wednesday, one day after American Marc Fogel was set free by a new settlement between Washington and Moscow.
According to the official, BTC-e co-founder Alexander Vinnik is currently in U.S. custody in California and is being readied for transfer to Russia. Vinnik’s attorney attested that his family had been told he was preparing to be deported to Russia.
According to U.S. authorities, BTC-e is a crucial platform that fraudsters utilize to enable identity theft schemes, ransomware extortions, and the distribution of drugs.
In late June, Vinnik entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit money laundering and was awaiting sentencing in the United States.
Before being extradited to the United States in 2022 at the age of 42, he had been held since 2017—first in Greece and then in France.
Following a hurriedly scheduled, behind-closed-door hearing on Vinnik’s case Tuesday at a U.S. federal court in San Francisco, preparations were made for his departure from the country.
When Fogel arrived in the United States a few hours later, President Trump, his special envoy Steve Witkoff, and a number of other legislators met him at the White House.
After speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Trump congratulated him on social media for Fogel’s release. In general, Trump and Putin discussed how to end the conflict in Ukraine.
According to a U.S. official, Witkoff met with Putin while he was in Moscow to pick up Fogel.
At first, the White House had not disclosed what, if anything, the United States had offered Russia in exchange for Fogel’s release.
The U.S. official who verified Vinnik’s release on Wednesday attempted to portray Fogel’s release as an indication of Russia’s good will and connected it to negotiations between the two nations that go beyond a simple prisoner exchange.
Although he would not specify where, the U.S. official stated that another American would return home on Wednesday. A representative for the U.S. Justice Department chose not to comment.
Additionally, Radio Liberty said Wednesday that its journalist Andrey Kuznechyk had been released from Belarus, a country that is near to Russia, after being imprisoned there for more than three years.
[READ MORE: Russia Releases American Detainee]
