Quick take
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- Alexander Vinnik has just been sentenced to 5 years in prison on money-laundering charges regarding bitcoin.
- On top of this jail sentence, Alexander will also have to pay just over $120,000 in penalties in what is a situation of presumed crypto scams.
The man who is allegedly the owner of the now-closed BTC-e crypto platform, Alexander Vinnik has just been sentenced to 5 years in prison on money-laundering charges regarding bitcoin. On top of this jail sentence, Alexander will also have to pay just over $120,000 in penalties in what is a situation of presumed crypto scams.
According to Alexander and his legal representatives, a French court acquitted him of charges of extortion and organisation with a criminal venture.
Even though he denies any misconduct done on his part, he’s been accused of being behind a $160 million scheme that’s made the most out of the leading cryptocurrency.
After spending some holiday time in Greece, Alexander was arrested after he became a wanted man in the United States, Russia and France. He stayed in Greece for a few years more than he bargained for and was extradited to Russia where he demanded lesser charges of $11,000 but this request was denied by the court.
Prosecutors in the court case are claiming that Alexander was one of the initial creators of the ransom software known as space. This was delivered to its victims through an email and if it was to be downloaded, the data would be encrypted.
Interestingly, in his defence, Alexander said that he was only a technical operator that carried out instructions from directors of the now-defunct platform. In the end, he was convicted of money-laundering as they couldn’t find enough evidence to prosecute him of extortion.
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