Alexander Vinnik, operator of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, was returned to Russia as part of a prisoner swap with the US.

Vinnik arrived in Moscow aboard a Mitsubishi Challenger jet from Istanbul, Turkey, landing at Vnukovo International Airport late on Feb. 13, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.

The BTC-e operator was released in exchange for American schoolteacher Marc Fogel , who was repatriated on Feb. 11. Fogel had been in Russian custody since 2021 after his arrest at an airport for possessing illegal cannabis.

The Russian national was arrested in Greece in 2017 and extradited to the US in August 2022. In May 2024, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in his role as BTC-e’s operator from 2011 to 2017.

Related: Absolutely Bizarre Aspects of $2.2 Bln BTC-e Mt. Gox Hacking Incident

BTC-e’s role in laundering illicit funds

BTC-e was a widely used exchange among illicit actors. A Cointelegraph Magazine investigation found that BTC-e was a favored laundering service, with large amounts of illicit Bitcoin

converted into Ether through Ethereum’s initial coin offering, effectively swapping dirty BTC for clean ETH . Blockchain transaction trails also linked the defunct exchange to the infamous Mt. Gox hack.

According to the US Justice Department, BTC-e processed over $9 billion in transactions and served a million users globally. Vinnik’s partner Aleksey Bilyuchenko, remains on the United States Secret Service’s most-wanted list for his role in operating BTC-e.

US-Russia swap amid rising tensions

The prisoner swap comes ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, where peace talks concerning the Russia-Ukraine war may take place. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected any negotiations over Ukraine’s future that do not include his country.

US Vice President JD Vance has warned the Kremlin of sanctions and potential military action if Putin does not agree to a peace deal that ensures Ukraine’s independence, The Wall Street Journal reported .

While speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels on Feb. 12, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that Ukraine reclaiming its pre-2014 borders was an unrealistic objective, adding that the Trump administration does not consider NATO membership for Ukraine a viable path.

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