The defense of Russian citizen 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 such a request is the “delay” of the trial by the American side. Vinnik’s lawyers emphasized that the accused extradited to the United States has been in an American prison for several months, but the documents necessary for the court have not been provided by the investigators.
“Understandably, he is very upset and believes that he should be released on bail or allowed to exercise the right to a speedy trial, because the government did not fulfill its obligations by promising to provide evidence in this case,” the defense said.
Recall that an IT specialist was arrested in Greece back in 2017 at the request of the US prosecutor’s office. He was in Greece until 2020, and then he was extradited to France, where a local court sentenced him to 5 years in prison. After that, Vinnik 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 BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, as well as distributing malware. In the United States, he faces up to 55 years in prison, so the defense in September of this year suggested that the authorities of the Russian Federation and the United States exchange prisoners. But there is no progress on this request.
Source: Bits
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