A Russian cybercriminal and crypto fraudster will be sent back to Moscow as part of a prisoner swap that on Tuesday brought American Marc Fogel home after more than three years in Russian custody.
Alexander Vinnik in 2024 entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to commit money laundering. The 45-year-old operated BTC-e, at one point one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Prosecutors said BTC-e was a valuable tool for criminals looking to move or launder money. They said BTC-e pocketed $121 million from “numerous computer intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes, corrupt public officials, and narcotics distribution rings.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Vinnik would be exchanged for Fogel and would be returning to Russia.
“Vinnik was a nonviolent crypto criminal, and as part of this exchange, he has forfeited more than $100 million that he obtained in that illegal crime,” Leavitt said.
Vinnik was arrested in Greece in 2017, the first year of President Trump’s first administration. British cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic claimed in a 2020 report that BTC-e may have been used to finance cyber attacks in 2015 and 2016 targeting the Democratic National Committee.
The practice of using cryptocurrency to fund Russian cyber attacks was described in a report by special counsel Robert Mueller III, who investigated the country’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 election. Mueller’s investigation did not find the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government.
Vinnik’s name has since been included in a series of negotiations that led to prisoner exchanges between the U.S. and Russia.
He was due to be sentenced in June 2025.
Alameda County Santa Rita jail, the California detention center where Vinnik was being held, told CBS News that he had been released from custody there on Feb. 10.
Vinnik’s lawyers told CBS News in a statement that a recent hearing had taken place in federal court, but that they were unable to share more details.
“We can only note that professional legal defense, high-quality political analysis, and appropriate lobbying mechanisms can sometimes have a significant impact on the course of events,” Vinnik’s lawyer said. “The sentencing in this case has been postponed multiple times, largely due to the political landscape, where certain administrative changes may play in favor of our client.”
Vinnik’s lawyer earlier confirmed he was still in the U.S.
His lawyers claimed in a 2023 court filing that the U.S. at one point offered to trade Vinnik in exchange for basketball star Brittney Griner, “but the exchange took a different turn.”
Ultimately, the deal came for an American who had similarly watched as others from his country were sent home in deal after deal. Marc Fogel, a schoolteacher who had been held in Russia since 2021, stepped on U.S. soil late Tuesday night.
The 63-year-old whose family had tirelessly advocated for his release was brought to the White House, where he met Mr. Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other leaders.
