After spending 30 months in detention, Greek authorities have finally extradited the Russian national and alleged Bitcoin (BTC) coin launderer Alexander Vinnik to France. Prosecutors in France are charging Vinnik, operator of the defunct BTC-e crypto exchange, with multiple counts of money laundering, extortion and conspiracy.

Vinnik also has pending extradition requests from both Russia and the United states of america. The alleged Bitcoin criminal has previously stated his preference for extradition to his native homeland, which Greek officials accept turned downwards.

Thus, after the conclusion of his trial in France, Vinnik will return to Greece to face some other extradition to the U.Due south. The U.S. State Department reportedly wants to question Vinnik in connection with the Mt. Gox hack and subsequent theft of 300,000 BTC allegedly traced to Vinnik's personal crypto wallet. Reports too propose that Russian state agents funneled money through BTC-eastward to fund interference in the U.S. 2022 presidential elections.

Amid the iii-way diplomatic tussle, Vinnik's legal team said that its client has been subjected to gross human rights abuses. Vinnik's lawyers have also accused prosecutors of working to continue their customer in detention without charges or a trial while preventing him from having whatever contact with members of his family.

Vinnik's defense lawyers also allude to the prosecution being sponsored by political and business interests based on their client'south involvement in crypto and blockchain engineering. The former BTC-e primary is i of a few crypto personalities to take run-ins with the police force, much similar Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who is currently serving a double life sentence for running a darknet drug market.

Alleged homo rights abuses amidst Vinnik's two-yr detention

In a telephone call with Cointelegraph, Zoe Konstantopoulou, one of Vinnik's lawyers, leveled allegations of human being rights abuses against the Greek authorities. Commenting on the scale of these infringements, Konstantopoulou revealed:

"Alexander has been subject to capricious detention for thirty months, which is prohibited by the Greek constitution. During this period, he has been made to endure cruel and inhuman handling from the authorities."

According to Konstantopoulou, Vinnik is existence held without trial or charges and in the absence of whatever court orders. Konstantopoulou has also claimed that the instance against Vinnik has some political undertones with vested interests in Greece, France and the U.S. looking to punish the quondam BTC-e operator.

When asked almost the effect of these alleged maltreatments on Vinnik's health, Konstantopoulou revealed that the health status of the Russian national continues to deteriorate. "Alexander is currently on the 44th day of his hunger strike in protestation of the gross human rights violations suffered at the hands of the authorities in Hellenic republic," she revealed during a call with Cointelegraph.

Apart from the alleged maltreatment, Vinnik's lawyer also revealed that Greek law enforcement was preventing whatever contact between the one-time BTC-due east operator and his family. Co-ordinate to Konstantopoulou:

"Greek law enforcement isn't allowing Alexander to see his family, even his wife who has been diagnosed with brain cancer."

In a private note to Cointelegraph on the Vinnik case, Yusaku Senga, CEO of cross-blockchain bandy platform Swingby, said crypto personalities defendant of wrongdoing usually suffer harsher punishments than their counterparts in mainstream finance. According to Senga:

"If we look at the prosecution of Charlie Shrem and compare information technology level of prosecution brought against Goldman Sachs and its senior directors for their involvement in the huge calibration of money laundering and embezzlement in the 1MDB scandal in Malaysia, it'southward hard non to fence that crypto advocates and entrepreneurs are being much more than harshly persecuted."

Like Vinnik, Charlie Shrem was also associated with another crypto exchange, BitInstant. U.Due south. regime arrested Shrem in 2022, charged him with money laundering and sentenced him to two years in prison.

Timeline of Vinnik's prosecution

In July 2022, Greek police arrested Vinnik while on vacation with his family in the tourist hamlet of Ouranoupoli. Thus began the over two-yr legal battle that has kept the Russian national behind bars while three different nations jostle for Vinnik's extradition and so he can face up criminal charges.

Shortly after his arrest, the U.S. filed an extradition asking and seemed to be successful in pushing for Vinnik's transfer stateside. By September, officials in Moscow also requested Vinnik'southward extradition to Russia.

Vinnik case timeline

By 2022, France entered the fray, turning the case into a diplomatic three-way tussle. Greek police also revealed an bump-off plot with suspected Russian criminals reportedly intent on stopping Vinnik's return to the country.

In mid-December 2022, Greek judicial authorities finally moved to extradite Vinnik to France to await trial. At the starting time of the twelvemonth, Vinnik's case entered a new phase with his extradition to France. Authorities in the country take already leveled money laundering and conspiracy charges against him.

Vinnik'south legal troubles stem from his alleged involvement in the BTC-e crypto commutation. Launched in 2022, the defunct platform saw little in the fashion of crypto trading activity until Mt. Gox — the market leader at the time — fell into financial trouble following i of the biggest Bitcoin exchange hacks in history.

Related: Crypto Substitution Hacks in Review

With Mt. Gox out of the way, BTC-e grew exponentially, accounting for well-nigh 15% of all U.Due south. dollar-denominated Bitcoin trading activity by tardily 2022. Despite being a major role player in the crypto trading infinite at the time, BTC-eastward had little in the mode of Know Your Client and anti-money laundering protocols.

Thus, the platform reportedly became a popular channel for funneling "dirty money." Mt. Gox hackers allegedly used the exchange to wash 300,000 BTC, the exact amount of which was also found in Vinnik's wallet.

Apart from the money laundering, several law enforcement authorities say BTC-due east replaced Silk Route as the aqueduct for illicit deals with many users of the platform engaging in drug trafficking and sales of other banned or regulated goods.

Concerning Bitcoin and criminal activities

Crypto critics usually espouse the same rhetoric of digital currencies as beingness channels for online criminal activities. Many financial regulators and governments opposed to or keen on strictly regulating the cryptocurrency industry usually tout the same refrain of digital currencies enabling revenue enhancement evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing, to mention a few.

The counter-argument offered by crypto proponents is that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies only business relationship for a modest portion of global fiscal crimes. A January 2022 written report past blockchain analytics house Chainalysis revealed that crypto payments on the darknet deemed for 0.08% of all digital currency transactions in 2022.