Russian Alexander Vinnik, arrested in the United States, made a deal with the investigation and pleaded guilty in a money laundering case.

Russian Alexander Vinnik, who is under arrest in the United States on charges of laundering at least four billion dollars through a crypto exchange, made a deal with American prosecutors and admitted guilt. The Russian's lawyer Arkady Bukh reported this to TASS.

According to him, Vinnik “admitted guilt under a limited number of articles.”

The lawyer expects that the prison term for the Russian will be less than 10 years. Bukh explained that the prosecutor’s office charged Vinnik with articles for which he could have received life imprisonment, but a deal with the state prosecution made it possible to reduce the prison term to a “single digit” number of years.

The US Department of Justice confirmed that Vinnik admitted guilt.

• Alexander Vinnik was detained in Greece in 2017 at the request of the United States. American authorities accuse Vinnik of laundering at least four billion dollars through the BTS-e cryptocurrency exchange. It was reported that the Russian faces up to 50 years in prison. France and Russia also sought Vinnik's extradition. In January 2020, Vinnik, who stated that he wanted to be extradited to Russia, was extradited to France. There he was sentenced to five years in prison, found guilty of creating malware. In August 2022, Vinnik was returned to Greece and then extradited to the United States.
• In May 2023, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Vinnik’s defense was trying to include him in any prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia, including the publication’s correspondent Evan Gershkovich.