Alexander Vinnik sentenced in France to five years in prison and a fine
A court in Paris found Alexander Vinnik guilty of aggravated money laundering. Vinnik was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of €100 000.
According to TASS, on December 7, a Paris court ruled on the case of Alexander Vinnik, whose hearings began in October. Vinnik was accused of involvement in the creation of the Locky encryption virus, money laundering and extortion.
In France, according to local law enforcement agencies, 20 companies and municipal departments paid a ransom through the BTC-e exchange, the operator of which was Alexander Vinnik. According to Echo of Moscow, initially French prosecutors demanded that Vinnik be sentenced to ten years in prison and a fine of €750 000.
A court in Paris sentenced Alexander Vinnik to five years in prison and a fine of €100 000, taking into account compensation to the injured parties. However, this does not mean that Vinnik will serve the entire sentence in France. According to RBC, a Russian citizen can be extradited to the United States, where US prosecutors accuse him of laundering from $4 billion to $9 billion through the VTS-e cryptocurrency exchange.
According to TASS, a court in Paris dismissed some of the charges of money laundering from Vinnik and completely rejected the charges of violating the automated systems of a number of organizations and individuals. In addition, charges were dropped against him for using Loki’s malicious encryption virus to conduct cyber attacks.
During the hearing, Alexander Vinnik did not admit his guilt and stated that he was only a consultant to BTC-e, but did not manage the platform. Vinnik’s lawyer also noted that the prosecutor’s office does not have evidence confirming the guilt of his client. In October, Figaro reported that according to Vinnik, he was a “freelance employee” of the cryptocurrency exchange and asked for extradition to Russia. Vinnik also stated that he had no idea about the Loki virus, and received €10 000 a month for freelance work on BTC-e.
Recall that in early 2020, Vinnik was extradited from Greece to France. In August, the case of Alexander Vinnik was transferred to the correctional court of France.
