{"id":12784,"date":"2025-02-12T21:03:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T21:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=12784"},"modified":"2025-02-12T21:03:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T21:03:22","slug":"us-releases-russian-bitcoin-exchange-co-founder-alexander-vinnik-in-prisoner-deal-with-moscow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/?p=12784","title":{"rendered":"US Releases Russian Bitcoin Exchange Co-Founder Alexander Vinnik In Prisoner Deal With Moscow"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The United States has released <strong>Alexander Vinnik<\/strong>, the Russian co-founder of the <strong>Bitcoin <\/strong>(CRYPTO: <a class=\"ticker\" href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/quote\/btc\/usd\">BTC<\/a>)-e cryptocurrency exchange, as part of a <a href=\"https:\/\/in.benzinga.com\/news\/global\/25\/02\/43643471\/trump-administration-secures-release-of-cannabis-prisoner-marc-fogel-from-14-year-russian-sentence\">negotiated agreement with Moscow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Happened: <\/strong>His release follows that of Marc Fogel, an American detained in Russia since 2021, The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/russian-bitcoin-exchange-co-founder-to-be-freed-by-the-u-s-after-americans-release-3f5fe066?mod=breakingnews\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Officials have characterized the move as part of ongoing diplomatic discussions rather than a direct prisoner swap.<\/p>\n<p>Vinnik, who had been in U.S. custody in California, is now being transferred to Russia. <\/p>\n<p>His legal team confirmed that his family had been informed of the development. <\/p>\n<p>Vinnik was awaiting sentencing in the U.S. after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities had linked BTC-e to cybercriminal activities, including ransomware operations, identity theft and financial crimes.<\/p>\n<p>Before his extradition to the U.S. in 2022, Vinnik was detained for five years in Greece and France following his 2017 arrest. <\/p>\n<p>Initially pleading not guilty, he later admitted to some charges in May 2024. <\/p>\n<p>His French attorney, <strong>Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric B\u00e9lot<\/strong>, expressed relief at his release, noting its significance for both Vinnik and his family.<\/p>\n<p>The decision to release Vinnik was made a day after &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/markets\/cryptocurrency\/25\/02\/43674050\/us-releases-russian-bitcoin-exchange-co-founder-alexander-vinnik-in-prisoner-deal-with-mos\" alt=\"US\" releases russian bitcoin exchange co-founder alexander vinnik in prisoner deal with moscow>Full story available on Benzinga.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States has released Alexander Vinnik, the Russian co-founder of the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC)-e cryptocurrency exchange, as part of a negotiated agreement with Moscow. What Happened: His release follows that of Marc Fogel, an American detained in Russia since 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported. Officials have characterized the move as part of ongoing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-12784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crypto","tag-doge","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dogewisperer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}