Washington D.C. – CNN, February 12, 2025
Accused Russian money launderer Alexander Vinnik is being released from US custody in exchange for Marc Fogel, a Trump administration source told CNN Wednesday.
Vinnik is accused of running a multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange that allegedly did business with drug dealers and identity thieves. Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece and subsequently extradited to France, where he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020 for money laundering. He was extradited from France to the United States in 2022.
According to the source, Vinnik has to forfeit money seized by the US government as part of the exchange.
Vinnik’s lawyers had lobbied for his release as part of prisoner exchanges in the past and the Biden administration had floated his name as part of an effort to free Americans like Paul Whelan.
