Suspected of vast online scams and at the heart of a standoff between France, the United States and Russia, the Russian Alexander Vinnik has been put on trial in Paris in an extortion case of tens of millions of euros. This man, arrested in Greece in 2017 and handed over to the French authorities at the end of January, must be tried before the criminal court, we learned on Monday from judicial sources close to the case, confirming information from the Parisian .
In his order, the investigating magistrate sent him back to trial for "extortion", "aggravated money laundering", "criminal association with a view to committing an offense punishable by 10 years' imprisonment", as well as for having introduced fraudulently in automated data processing systems, said the close source.
Damage estimated at 135 million euros
Alexander Vinnik, who rejects these accusations, is particularly suspected by the French justice of being behind the Locky ransomware, of which dozens of individuals, communities and companies were victims between 2016 and 2018. This malicious software, which encrypts data and does not releases them only against payment of a ransom, would have caused a loss estimated in 2018 at around 135 million euros.
“After three months, the investigating judge, after receiving new documents, closes the case even before we can file our observations. We have not been able to exercise the rights of the defense, ”responded to AFP the lawyer in France for Vinnik, Me Ariane Zimra. She also deplored the conditions for handing over her client to France, denouncing an intervention by the Greek executive power and the lack of translation for many documents in the file.
Bitcoin and Hellenic tourism
Alexander Vinnik was arrested at a tourist resort in northern Greece in July 2017, on the basis of a US arrest warrant. In January of the same year, a US federal prosecutor pronounced 21 charges against him in the United States where he is suspected of being the mastermind of BTC-e, one of the main bitcoin exchange platforms in the world until it closes.
"Thanks to Mr. Vinnik's efforts, BTC-e has become one of the primary means by which cybercriminals across the world launder the proceeds of their illicit activity," US Attorney Brian Stretch wrote in his indictment. , consulted by AFP. For their part, the financial police of the US Treasury, FinCen, had civilly ordered BTC-e to pay a fine of $ 110 million. Alexander Vinnik himself was fined $ 12 million.
Claimed by Paris, which had issued a European arrest warrant in 2018, Alexander Vinnik asked to be extradited to Russia, where he is being prosecuted for a swindle involving 9,500 euros, without commensurate with the BTC-e case or the facts which he is accused of in France. But the European mandate having priority for Greece, he ended up being handed over to the French authorities, who immediately put him under examination and imprisoned, placing him in solitary confinement.
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