Suspect behind bitcoin exchange that “catered to criminals” ordered to France

Enlarge / Courts in Thessaloniki, Greece, rules extradition of the Russian bitcoin master suspect Alexander Vinnik to France after the French authorities request. (credit: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A Greek court in Thessaloniki ruled last week that the creator of a shady bitcoin exchange under investigation by American authorities will be extradited to France rather than to the United States or to his native Russia.

Last summer, federal authorities identified Alexander Vinnik as a central figure in the massive bitcoin theft that was a major factor in the downfall of Mt. Gox, the Japanese bitcoin exchange that led the market in bitcoin's early years. If Vinnik is ultimately determined to be involved in the crash and eventual bankruptcy of Mt. Gox, that revelation would finally solve what has remained one of the bitcoin community's biggest mysteries.

American prosectors have previously said that the exchange, BTC-e, was behind around $4 billion worth of money laundering.

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