Lawyer of alleged crypto-launderer urges Russia to discuss prisoner swap
By Philip Lebedev
MOSCOW, Sept 5 (Reuters) – The lawyer for a Russian man accused of laundering more than $4 billion through the digital currency bitcoin urged Moscow on Monday to start negotiations with the United States to include his client in a potential prisoner swap.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July that Washington had made a “significant offer” to Moscow for the release of US citizens held in Russia, including US basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.
In a letter seen by Reuters, a lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian extradited last month to the United States to face money laundering charges, asked Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to begin exchange negotiations with Washington.
“Now the only thing that can save Alexander is for the Russian Federation to enter into negotiations with the American authorities within the framework of the exchange of prisoners between the aforementioned countries,” says the letter from lawyer Frederic Belot.
Belot said he sent the letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry. The ministry declined immediate comment.
Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the United States, although Moscow has repeatedly demanded his return to Russia.
He was extradited to France from Greece where he was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering before being sent back to Greece and then on to the US where he appeared before a judge in San Francisco early last month.
His lawyer said Vinnik was held in solitary confinement in France and due to the stress of solitary confinement, psychiatrists “have declared that he has a partial loss of memory,” the letter said.
Vinnik’s lawyer says his client has repeatedly denied and continues to deny all the charges against him.
The US Department of Justice said that Vinnik “allegedly owned, operated and managed BTC-e, a significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily dependent on criminal Activity .”
The maximum penalty for the US charges against Vinnik is 55 years in prison, the US Justice Department website said, a figure confirmed by Vinnik’s lawyer.
“This designation for Alexander is synonymous with life,” Belot said.
Russia has repeatedly stated that it was engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with the United States regarding a potential prisoner swap. (Editing by Guy Faulconbridge Editing by Alistair Bell)
