US reportedly releases Russian cybercrime figure Alexander Vinnik in prisoner swap

Alexander Vinnik, the Russian operator of the now-defunct BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, has reportedly been released from U.S. custody in a prisoner swap for American school teacher Marc Fogel, according to media reports citing anonymous U.S. officials.

Vinnik’s French lawyer, Frederic Belot, confirmed his client’s release to the Russian state news agency TASS on Wednesday. Vinnik’s U.S. lawyer, Arkady Bukh, told Interfax that his client is still in the U.S. and that he cannot disclose any details. Bukh also noted that "certain administrative changes" in the political landscape could work in his client’s favor.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Moscow had secured the release of a Russian citizen held in the U.S. in exchange for Fogel. While he did not name Vinnik, Peskov stated the individual would soon return to Russia.

The U.S. government has not officially confirmed Vinnik’s release.

Vinnik pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering in a U.S. court. The Department of Justice called BTC-e “a significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade in bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily reliant on criminal activity.” At least $4 billion was through BTC-e, the department said.

The platform “received criminal proceeds of numerous computer intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes, corrupt public officials, and narcotics distribution rings,” the DOJ said at the time. “Vinnik operated BTC-e with the intent to promote these unlawful activities and was responsible for a loss amount of at least $121 million.”

Vinnik, who initially denied being the BTC-e operator, was arrested in Greece in 2017 before being extradited to France, where the local court accused him of hacking several thousand email accounts and extorting money from their owners.

He was later returned to Greece before being extradited to the U.S. Meanwhile, Russia also requested that Greek authorities send Vinnik to his home country to face charges for a smaller fraud.

According to several U.S. media reports, Vinnik must forfeit $100 million of his criminal proceeds seized by the American government as part of the exchange.

Fogel, the U.S. citizen, was arrested in Russia in 2021 and sentenced to 14 years on drug-related charges. The U.S. had previously designated him as “wrongfully detained.” Fogel returned to the U.S. on Tuesday night and was greeted by President Donald Trump, who said that Fogel's release "could be a big important part" of ending the Ukraine war.

If released, Vinnik would be the third Russian facing criminal charges in the U.S. for cyber-related crimes to be released as part of a prisoner swap. Earlier in August, Russian hackers Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin were swapped in a historic exchange.

Klyushin was sentenced in 2023 to nine years in prison in the U.S. for his role in a $93 million stock market cheating scheme that relied on secret corporate information stolen through hacking U.S. computer networks.

Seleznev, also known by the aliases Track2, Bulba, and Ncux 3, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2017 for stealing and selling millions of credit card numbers, causing more than $169 million in damage to small businesses and financial institutions, including those in the U.S.

During the previous exchange, the U.S. released Russian hackers, spies, and an assassin in exchange for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan, Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and others.