Alleged operator of notorious digital asset exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, has been extradited from Greece by French authorities seeking a criminal trial on counts of extortion, aggravated money laundering, conspiracy and harming automatic data-processing systems arising out of his alleged operation of BTC-e.
While the French investigation is ongoing, Vinnik's French lawyers are arguing that:
There is no causal link between what Alexander Vinnik is being accused of and Alexander Vinnik...
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and had been held by authorities in Greece since as France, Russia and the United States have argued over who would get to extradite him to face charges first. France has come out number une.
In the US, Vinnik faces 21 charges including identity theft and facilitating drug trafficking to money laundering relating to his alleged operation of the BTC-e exchange. French authorities accuse him of defrauding more than 100 people in six cities between 2016 and 2018, whereas in Russia he lesser fraud charges involving approximately €9,500.
Vinnik's French legal team also ran a pseudo-conspiracy style defence argument, claiming that:-
Alexander’s crime is to be Russian and a person with extraordinary technological knowledge that could liberate people economically,
If the various charges against him are ultimately substantiated, he may be found guilty of liberating others from their money. We will continue following this chapter of the Mt Gox story.