The Russian national, who is suspected of being the operator of the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange, faces the possibility of receiving a sentence of fifty years in prison for his role in the scandal.

Assistance

Frederic Belot, a French attorney, has been representing the accused money launderer and Russian entrepreneur Alexander Vinnik in his case for many years. Vinnik is involved in the cryptocurrency industry.

The attorney has now reached out to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All of Russia in order to make a request that his client be assisted in returning to his native country.

In the letter that the attorney penned, he stated that the United States was handling the case as a political trial rather than a legal one. This was stated in the letter.

Belot cautioned Vinnik that he could be sentenced to fifty years in prison in the United States, and he added that the only way to save him would be to trade other American citizens who are currently detained in Russia for Russian political prisoners.

In addition to that, he stated that the cases of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner could be included in a potential prisoner exchange with other Russian inmates.

This is not the first time the attorney has suggested this particular course of action.

The current state of Vinnik

At the beginning of September, the attorney requested that Moscow take Vinnik into consideration during ongoing discussions with the United States government regarding the possibility of a prisoner exchange.

He had emphasized the fact that Vinnik's health had significantly deteriorated while he was in Greece due to the fact that he had gone on a hunger strike there, and that he had been forced to spend time in solitary confinement in France.

The statement that Vinnik is an Orthodox Christian was included in the letter that the French attorney sent to Kirill.

He went on to say that the crypto entrepreneur had been able to make it through being alone, the death of his wife, being separated from his family, and the monstrous injustice carried out by the authorities of several countries because he had faith that the truth would win out in the end.

Infringement of one's rights

Berlot also brought attention to the fact that Vinnik's rights had been violated in Greece after he had been detained and transferred to France; from there, he had been sent to the United States by extradition from France.

The United States had filed a warrant for the Russian national's arrest, which led to his detention in July of 2017, when he was on holiday in Thessaloniki. The Russian national was taken into custody in Greece.

It was alleged that Vinnik laundered between $4 and $9 billion in assets through the now-defunct BTC-e exchange, which was one of the allegations against him.

In December of 2019, the Greek authorities had turned him over to their French counterparts, and the French authorities had sentenced him to five years in prison for the crime of money laundering.

In August, once he had finished serving his term, the French authorities handed him over to the Greek government, and from there he was extradited to the United States.

During this time period, Russia has also made attempts to have him extradited on allegations of fraud and the theft of more than 12 million dollars, but these requests have not been granted.

It has been suggested that Vinnik worked with Russian intelligence, and Vinnik himself has claimed that he desired to face charges in a Russian court.