Russian National Pleads Guilty in US Over Crypto Laundering
- Prosecutors say BTC-e exchange was among the world’s largest
- Alexander Vinnik blamed for $121 million in losses, US says
Alexander Vinnik
Photographer: Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A Russian national pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy related to his role in operating one of the world’s largest virtual currency exchanges from 2011 to 2017, US prosecutors said.
Alexander Vinnik, 44, was one of the operators of BTC-e until it was shut down by law enforcement and he was arrested, according to a statement by the US Attorney’s office in San Francisco. BTC-e processed more than $9 billion of transactions and served more than 1 million users worldwide, prosecutors said.