US extradites former Monero developer Ricardo ‘Fluffypony’ Spänni to South Africa

The court ordered the former lead Monero developer Ricardo ‘Fluffypony’ Spänni to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Service on July 5 for extradition to South Africa.

In July 2021, law enforcement detained Spänni at Nashville International Airport (USA) at the request of the South African authorities, who charged him with fraud of $100,000. The case is not related to Monero, but to his work at the South African company Cape Cookies from 2009-2011.

Under the charges, Spänni faces up to 20 years in prison. The lawyer representing the developer, Duncan Ouks, described the detention as ‘unfounded’. According to him, Spänni wrongly believed that the presence of his representative was sufficient for the Cape Cookies case.

Earlier in September 2021, a U.S. court released ‘Fluffypony’ from custody.

Spänni stepped back from active involvement in Monero development in 2019, but remains its unofficial figure. The developer stood at the project’s origins, though he was not its direct creator.

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