A new series of court hearings have begun in the Paris Correctional Court in the case of Alexander Vinnik, co-founder of the now-closed cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e who was extradited from Greece to France.
Vinnik faces up to ten years in prison on charges of extortion, money laundering, and participation in a criminal organization.
The French prosecutor's office claims that Vinnik was one of the creators of the malware called Locky, which was distributed via email. If downloaded, the program encrypted the recipient's data and demanded a ransom in bitcoins for their decryption.
In France, between 2016 and 2018, companies, law firms, and municipal councils were attacked. Twenty victims paid the ransom through BTC-e, one of the largest digital currency exchanges.
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Vinnik, 41, says that he was performing purely technical work and knew nothing about the illegal activities of BTC-e.
“Alexander is determined to ensure that the whole truth about his role, in this case, is revealed. His accusation is unfair, and he intends to prove that he has nothing to do with the Locky malware. If the managing platforms BTC-e committed crimes, the evidence of which must be provided, then they should be responsible for their actions, and not Vinnik, who worked as a simple operator,” said Frederic Belo, Vinnik's lawyer.
The United States accuses Vinnik of money laundering through BTC-e. He was arrested at the request of the US authorities in the summer of 2017 while on vacation in Greece.