PARIS — French officials have filed preliminary charges of money laundering and extortion against Russian bitcoin fraud suspect Alexander Vinnik, who's tangled in a multi-country legal battle. The United States also wants to prosecute Vinnik, accusing him of laundering billions of dollars through BTC-e, one of the world's largest digital currency exchanges. Vinnik, 39, was arrested in the summer of 2017 while on a family holiday in northern Greece, at the request of U.S. authorities. Vinnik says says he acted as a technical consultant to the BTC-e platform and had no knowledge of any illegal activity. After a two-year legal tug-of-war, Vinnik was extradited from Greece to France on Thursday and was immediately questioned by investigating judges, according to a French judicial official.

Source: New York Times January 24, 2020 15:22 UTC