WASHINGTON, May 25 Protecting a State Detainee California citizen of the Russian Federation Alexander Vinnik expects that the trial in his case will take place in the fall, while the Russian himself is interested in being included in the list for the exchange of prisoners between Russia and the United States, Vinnik's lawyer David Rizk said.
“We expect that the trial in his case will be scheduled for autumn. I assume that it was discussed in the context of a future exchange (of prisoners between the US and Russia – ed.), but I do not have the details. As you know, he interested in being included in such an exchange,» Rizk said, commenting on the case of his client.
Alexander Vinnik, who was extradited from Greece last year, is accused in the United States of creating the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, through which, according to the Americans, four billion dollars were laundered. If found guilty, the 42-year-old Russian faces 55 years in prison. Vinnik was arrested on July 25, 2017 on the Halkidiki peninsula in Greece at the request of the United States and spent 30 months in a Greek prison without a court decision, in violation of the Greek constitution. In January 2020, the Russian was extradited to France on 19 charges, but the court acquitted him of all charges brought by France and sentenced him to five years on one American charge. At the same time, the French court considered that Vinnik did not commit a criminal offense, but a misdemeanor. In August 2022, Vinnik was transported from France to Greece and immediately extradited to the United States.
The Russian is in the Santa Rita prison near San Francisco, California.