The US has released Russian citizen Alexander Vinick, who is accused of cybercriminal activity, as part of the deal with Russia in which Mark Vogel was released.

Vinnick, now 45, also known as Mr Bitcoin, managed BTC-e, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

US authorities have also linked him to the case of Mt Gox, a Japan-based bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014 after being hacked.

Vinnick allegedly obtained funds from the Mt. Gox breach and laundered them through BTC-e and Tradehill, another San Francisco-based exchange. He is accused, in particular, of stealing in 2011 the sum of 80,000 bitcoins which are currently worth €7.5 billion.

He was arrested on 25 July 2017 in Halkidiki, where he was on holiday with his wife and their two children. He was taken into custody while four extradition warrants were pending against him, two from Russia, one from the US, and one from France.

He pleaded not guilty to the Greek justice system and not guilty to the charges against them.

His lawyer, Zoe Konstantopoulou, stated that they had violated “the extreme limits set by the Constitution of our country, for temporary detention of more than 12 months for felonies and more than 6 months for misdemeanors – and this can go up to 18 months, the maximum inviolable limit.”

By a decision of the CoE in January 2020, and after going on a hunger strike for several days, he was extradited to France and from there to the US. He pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He faced up to 20 years in prison, Reuters reported. He was scheduled to be sentenced in January, but a federal judge agreed in November to defer his sentencing to this June, without giving a reason for the delay.

Vogel, 63, was serving a 14-year sentence for drug smuggling after he was arrested at a Moscow airport with a small amount of marijuana. Yesterday Tuesday he was flown to Washington, D.C., where he celebrated his release with Trump at the White House.