Russian Bitcoin Exchange Co-Founder to Be Freed in Deal for American's Release — WSJ

By Louise Radnofsky, Alex Leary and Georgi KantchevThe Russian co-founder of a popular bitcoin exchange will be released from U.S. custody Wednesday, a day after a deal between Washington and Moscow freed American Marc Fogel, a U.S. official said.Alexander Vinnik, the co-founder of BTC-e, is in U.S. custody in California and being prepared for transport to Russia, the official said. A lawyer for Vinnik confirmed that his family had been informed he was getting ready to be sent to Russia.U.S. authorities have said BTC-e was a key platform used by cybercriminals to facilitate ransomware extortions, identity-theft schemes and narcotics distribution. Vinnik had been awaiting sentencing in the U.S. in late June, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He had been detained since 2017, first in Greece and then in France, before his extradition to the U.S. in 2022 at the age of 42.Preparations for Vinnik's departure from the U.S. followed a hastily convened hearing Tuesday at a U.S. federal court in San Francisco about his case, which took place behind closed doors. A few hours later, Fogel arrived in the U.S. and was greeted at the White House by President Trump, his special envoy Steve Witkoff and a roster of other politicians.Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and in a social-media post afterward thanked him for Fogel's release. Broadly, Trump and Putin spoke about finding a resolution to the war in Ukraine. "I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!" Trump wrote.Witkoff met with Putin when he was in Moscow to pick up Fogel, according to a U.S. official.The White House hadn't initially indicated what, if anything, the U.S. had given Russia to secure Fogel's release. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had suggested in an interview Tuesday with NewsNation: "I think it's also important to note it was not in return for anything."He added: "There wasn't some deal here where we had to release, like, 10 spies."On Wednesday, the U.S. official who confirmed Vinnik was being released sought to frame Fogel's release as a show of good faith by Russia, linked to talks between the two countries that go beyond a straightforward prisoner swap.The U.S. official confirmed that another American would be coming home Wednesday, without saying from where. A U.S. Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.Also on Wednesday, Radio Liberty confirmed that its journalist Andrey Kuznechyk had been freed after more than three years of imprisonment in Belarus, which is closely allied with Russia. Stephen Capus, the president of the U.S.-funded, editorially independent Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said Kuznechyk, a Belarusian citizen, was back with his family in Lithuania "thanks to President Trump."Trump was critical of deals during the Biden administration that brought back dozens of Americans that the U.S. considered to be wrongfully detained in countries including Russia, Iran, Venezuela and China. He argued that he could have negotiated better outcomes without trading people the U.S. considers to be criminals.The staggered release of Fogel and then Vinnik meant that the exchange was less obvious than in previous iterations of U.S.-Russia swaps, which have included carefully synchronized airplane departures and — in the case of the American women's basketball star Brittney Griner and the Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, dubbed Putin's "merchant of death" — a literal crossing of paths on an airport runway in Abu Dhabi."This is not the merchant of death for a basketball player," the U.S. official said.Standing inside the White House with Fogel on Tuesday night, Trump had characterized the agreement with Russia as "very, very fair, very reasonable. Not like deals you've seen over the years." The U.S. president also said Russia had shown goodwill as part of the deal, "in terms of the war... It's a very important evening for ending that war," he said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine.On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the deal came following "meticulous negotiating work." Peskov said an unnamed Russian citizen would be freed from U.S. custody in the coming days as a result of Fogel's release."Of course, such agreements are not capable of becoming a turning point, but at the same time, bit by bit, these are certain steps towards building up that very mutual trust, which is now at its lowest point," Peskov said.Fogel was arrested in 2021 at a Moscow airport after Russian officials found less than an ounce of medical marijuana in his luggage. He was left out of a mass prisoner swap between Russia, the U.S., Germany and allies last year that freed wrongfully convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine, Paul Whelan.Vinnik was one of the most prominent Russian citizens who remained in U.S. custody following that exchange. Part of the U.S.'s contribution to the deal included freeing hackers Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, as well as Vadim Konoshchenok, whom U.S. officials had accused of illegal munitions smuggling and of ties to Russia's Federal Security Service.Unusually, Vinnik had campaigned openly for his inclusion in a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Russia, with his lawyers and his mother pleading his case to top U.S. officials, Russian officials including Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and even Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church.They had described his deteriorating psychological condition, and the impact of his wife's death during his incarceration on their young children, who are being raised by his mother."It is a real relief for my client and his family," Frédéric Bélot, Vinnik's French lawyer who had pushed for a deal to free him, said on Wednesday.U.S. officials charged Vinnik in a 21-count indictment, saying he ran a lucrative money-laundering operation through BTC-e, which he co-founded in 2011. He initially pleaded not guilty and said he didn't have decision-making authority over the exchange. In May 2024, he changed his plea to guilty for some of the charges.His U.S. lawyer, Arkady Bukh, had said that Vinnik's supporters were ready to argue that he should be sentenced to no additional prison time, given the years he had already spent in prison.But a release to Russia — without completing a prison sentence in the U.S. judicial system — means Vinnik is unlikely to face extradition to any other countries that might have been pursuing their own cases against him.Write to Louise Radnofsky at [email protected], Georgi Kantchev at [email protected] and Alex Leary at [email protected]