Vinnik’s defence says U.S. authorities interfered in the investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Embassy in Athens directly interfered in the case of Russian national Alexander Vinnik. This, according to reports by RIA Novosti, citing the convicted man’s lawyers.

According to the provided correspondence, the Greek Ministry of Justice official Katerina Zaharaki asked the Americans for permission to share with the U.S. Embassy in Greece a hard disk containing copies of the case materials.

“Yes, you have our permission to give the disk to the U.S. Embassy’s legal attaché,” said Debora Geinas of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Greek court decisions barred handing over materials seized from Vinnik to the American side. However, previously published documents indicated that this ban had been violated.

In another letter, the Americans granted permission for “Alexander Vinnik to have the right to have his requests reviewed in accordance with Greek law”.

In December 2020, a court in Paris convicted Alexander Vinnik of laundering at least $4 billion through the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange and sentenced him to five years in prison and a €100,000 fine.

In late June 2021, the Appeals Court upheld the first-instance verdict.

According to the latest information, at the end of August Vinnik is to be extradited from France to Greece.

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