Court Drops Charges Against Alleged Btc-e Operator Alexander Vinnik
The lawsuit against alleged Btc-e operator Alexander Vinnik for “fraud, money laundering, and other grave crimes” filed in Cyprus has reportedly been dropped. His lawyer says the case “fell apart at the very early stage” at the initiative of the plaintiffs themselves.
Lawsuit Dropped
The lawsuit filed in Cyprus against Alexander Vinnik has reportedly been withdrawn by the plaintiffs, Tass reported on Tuesday. Vinnik allegedly operated the now-defunct Cyprus-registered cryptocurrency exchange Btc-e. His lawyer Timofei Musatov wrote in a press release sent to the news outlet:
He asserted that the case “fell apart at the very early stage … at the initiative of the plaintiffs themselves,” noting:
Other Legal Battles Continue
Vinnik was detained in Greece on July 25 last year on a warrant issued by the U.S. Department of Justice. He has been in a Greek prison ever since. The U.S. accuses him of laundering between $4 billion and $9 billion from Mt. Gox’s hack through Btc-e and other exchanges.
Regarding whether he operated Btc-e, Vinnik told Tass in October that he was only a technical expert at the exchange. “I gave some advice to that platform. That’s not a crime, and the exchange itself is not a crime, it is just a platform for exchanging cryptocurrency,” he claims.
Last week, Vinnik’s lawyer accused the judges of the Greek supreme court of violating his rights. He also reportedly went on a hunger strike a few days later.
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