Court to rule on French extradition request for cybercrime suspect on Friday

A Council of Appeals in Thessaloniki will decide on Friday whether to accept an extradition request by France for a Russian cybercrime suspect who is also sought on criminal charges by the US and Russia.

The 39-year-old Alexander Vinnik, a former bitcoin platform operator, is accused by French authorities of cybercrime and money laundering totaling 130 million euros.

According to the European arrest warrant, the above amount, which was deposited to the BTC-e platform, came from cyberattacks against computer systems, for which electronic ransom was requested in Bitcoins.

More than 100 French citizens were victims of the cyberattacks.

Court prosecutor Irini Chrysogianni argued in favor of the extradition. “France's European arrest warrant includes all the elements demanded by Greek law and therefore is it is enforceable,” she said in court.

The Supreme Court has already approved Vinnik's extradition to the United States for allegedly laundering billions of dollars using the virtual currency and another court agreed to extradite him to Russia where he is wanted on fraud charges.

The final decision on where Vinnik will be extradited will be taken by Greece's justice minister.