VTS-e founder requests bail from US court

The defense of Russian Alexander Vinnik, who is under arrest in the United States on charges of laundering up to $ 9 billion through the BTC-e exchange, has requested bail from the court.

The reason for this request is that the US side is delaying the trial. Vynnyk’s lawyers emphasized that the defendant, extradited to the United States, has been in an American prison for several months, but the documents required by the court have not been provided by investigators.

«For obvious reasons, he is very upset and believes that he should be released on bail or allowed to exercise his right to a speedy trial, as the government has not fulfilled its obligations promising to provide evidence in this case,» the lawyers said.

It should be reminded that the Russian Vinnik was arrested in Greece back in 2017 at the request of the US prosecutor’s office. He stayed in Greece until 2020, and then was extradited to France, where a local court sentenced him to 5 years in prison. After that, Vynnyk was returned to Greece and extradited to the United States in August 2022. U.S. prosecutors accuse Vinnik of laundering between $ 4 billion and $ 9 billion through the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, as well as distributing malware.

In the United States, he faces up to 55 years in prison, so in September of this year, the defense offered the Russian and US authorities to exchange prisoners. But no progress has been made on this request. However, the recently exchanged Victor Booth became interested in his case and promised to return Vynnyk back to the territory of the terrorist country.