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Bloomberg
Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen accused by the US of having supervised a digital-currency exchange that helped criminals launder billions of dollars, will probably remain in France to face cryptocurrency-related charges there, his lawyers said in Paris.
Vinnik was interrogated by French investigators, the same day he was extradited from Greece, his defense team said at a news conference. One of his lawyers, Zoi Konstantopoulou, said Vinnik was being “persecuted†because he’s a blockchain genius and is seen as a threat to the international banking system.
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017 and had been held by authorities there as France, Russia and the US fought over which country should get to extradite him to face charges.
In France, Vinnik was charged with aggravated money laundering, conspiracy and harming automatic data-processing systems, according to an official at the Paris prosecutor’s office.