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French Officials Move to Start Trial of Alleged BTC-e Operator Alexander Vinnik

The alleged BTC-e operator stands accused of extortion, aggravated money laundering and conspiracy.

By Paddy Baker, Anna Baydakova
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:35 a.m. Published Jul 24, 2020, 1:45 p.m.
Alexander Vinnik
Alexander Vinnik

French officials have officially started the ball rolling for the trial of Alexander Vinnik, the alleged operator of an exchange said to have laundered millions of dollars for criminals.

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  • French prosecutors filed a petition to start the lawsuit against Vinnik on Wednesday, according to a news report from L'Express.
  • Vinnik was charged on the day he arrived in France in late January after been extradited from Greece.
  • He stands accused of extortion, aggravated money laundering, conspiracy, and harming automatic data-processing systems as the chief of the exchange BTC-e, closed by law enforcement agencies in 2017.
  • A hot wallet address for BTC-e can be seen on blockchain explorers.
  • The platform from Netherlands-based Crystal Blockchain shows that, while now empty, more than 733,000 bitcoin (around $7 billion) has passed through the wallet.
  • It has remained inactive since September 2017 – a few months after Vinnik was detained by the Greek authorities.
BTC-e address displayed on Crystal Blockchain
BTC-e address displayed on Crystal Blockchain
  • Once the French trial has concluded, Vinnik will be extradited to the U.S. and then Russia to face similar charges there.
  • Vinnik has maintained he is innocent of all charges.

See also: New Zealand Police Seize $90M Linked to Alleged BTC-e Exchange Operator

CrimeBTC-eFranceAlexander VinnikCoinFlash
Paddy Baker

Paddy Baker is a London-based cryptocurrency reporter. He was previously senior journalist at Crypto Briefing.

Paddy holds positions in BTC and ETH, as well as smaller amounts of LTC, ZIL, NEO, BNB and BSV.

Picture of CoinDesk author Paddy Baker
Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

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