The US will release a Russian national as part of a prisoner swap that brought home American schoolteacher Marc Fogel. Alexander Vinnik was arrested in 2017 on charges related to laundering billions of dollars using the virtual currency Bitcoin. A US grand jury indicted Vinnik on 21 counts related to laundering stolen funds.
The White House confirmed to the BBC Vinnik's identity and imminent release. President Donald Trump also indicated earlier that another prisoner would be released in the Fogel swap after he was released from a prison in Russia and returned to the US on Tuesday night.
Vinnik, a Russian national, operated the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e. He was arrested in Greece at the request of US authorities who believed he was responsible for laundering $4bn (£3.22bn) through the exchange. He pleaded guilty to the charges in May last year and faced 20 years in prison when he was sentenced.
According to the US Department of Justice, BTC-e was used by cybercriminals around the world to transfer, launder, and store the proceeds of illegal crimes, including hacking incidents, ransomware attacks, identity theft schemes, corrupt public officials, and drug sales.
Vinnik allegedly used BTC-e to promote these activities, and US authorities said at the time that he was responsible for the loss of around $121 million.
The Justice Department said the firm had no anti-money laundering or KYC processes in place as required by U.S. federal law. It did not collect customer data, which investigators said made it attractive to criminals.
Separately on Wednesday, the White House announced that Belarus had released three detainees after a US representative traveled to Minsk to negotiate their release.
U.S. hostage envoy Adam Boehler told CNN in an interview that an American was among the three held. He said Belarus had released an additional prisoner last week, who is now in Texas.
Boehler said the US secured a "deal" but that Belarus got nothing in return. He added that Trump was "deeply involved" in the negotiations.
Boehler told reporters that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed to the release “to curry favor” with Trump. He also called on the leaders of Venezuela, Iran and Gaza to release the Americans he said they are holding captive.
