A Greek court has ruled to extradite the Russian cybercrime suspect and the former operator of now-defunct BTC-e crypto exchange to France, instead of the United States or to his native Russia, according to multiple Russian news outlets.
Alexander Vinnik, 38, has been accused of laundering more than $4 billion in bitcoin for criminals involved in hacking attacks, tax fraud and drug trafficking with the help of BTC-e crypto exchange.
BTC-e, a digital currency exchange service operating since 2011, was seized by the authorities right after Vinnik's arrest in northern Greece in late July 2016 at the request of US law enforcement authorities.
Vinnik is also accused to the failure of the once-most famous Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which was shut down in 2014 following a series of mysterious robberies, which totaled at least $375 million in Bitcoin.
