(Reuters) – The United States will release Russian Alexander Vinnik, a suspected cybercrime kingpin, as part of an exchange with Russia that freed Marc Fogel, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Vinnik operated BTC-e, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. He was arrested in 2017 and detained at Washington’s request on suspicion of laundering $4 billion through the exchange. In May, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and faced 20 years in prison.
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
