Greece is preparing to hand Russian national Alexander Vinnik over to the United States where he is wanted on money laundering charges, according to the Greek Justice Ministry’s legal papers.
The Greek justice minister authorized Vinnik’s extradition to France on Friday after the top Greek court approved extradition requests from France, the United States and Russia. The ministry plans to bring him to France where he will be put on a flight to the U.S.
Even though the formal extradition destination appears to be France, Justice Minister Konstantinos Tsiaras asked the head of the Greek prison holding the Russian to prepare the "transfer act and guarantee that he would be handed over to the U.S. police and then to Russia."
Vinnik’s lawyer Timofey Musratov said the letter confirmed that Greece wanted to extradite his defendant to the U.S.
"The French will not come for him, they were never going to. The document proves that they planned to hand him over the U.S. from the very beginning," Sputnik cited him as saying.
Vinnik was detained in Greece in July 2017 at the request of the U.S. on various charges, including laundering $4 billion through a cryptocurrency trading platform. France has also accused Vinnik of committing cybercrimes, including money laundering as well.
