The Supreme Court in Greece has ruled today that the owner of a shady Bitcoin exchange platform through which ransomware operators laundered cyber-crime money will be extradited to Russia, instead of the US or France, countries which also requested the hacker's extradition.
The suspect at the center of this tug-of-war is Alexander Vinnik, also known under the nickname of "Mr. Bitcoin," and the owner of the BTC-e.com cryptocurrency exchange.
US authorities shut down BTC-e in July 2017. Vinnik was arrested[1] the same month by Greek police while vacationing in a seaside resort in the country's northern Halkidiki region.
Also: Kelihos botnet operator jailed for account theft, ID trading in the Dark Web[2]
The US requested Vinnik's extradition on a case involving 21 charges related to money laundering and the operation of an unlicensed money exchange. Vinnik faced a combined maximum sentence of up to 35 years in prison, along with various fines, in the US case alone.
As soon as Vinnik's arrest became public, Russia filed an extradition claim of their own. Russian authorities said Vinnik was also a suspected in an investigation in Russia in relation to a €9,500 ($11,000) fraud charge. Details about the case remained murky.
France filed its own extradition claim in June 2018, for involvement in "cybercrime, money laundering, and membership in a criminal organization and extortion."
Greek judges waivered in the case at every turn and with every appeal. They initially agreed to extradite Vinnik to the US, then to France over the summer, then to Russia at the start of September.
The case eventually reached Greece's Supreme Court, and today, it was decided that Vinnik should face charges in Russia, the suspect's native country, and where he expressed his desire